1、 TEST 1 SECTION 1 RECEPTIONIST: Good afternon, Dreamtime Travel. How can I help you? CUSTOMER: Oh helo. Im interested in the holidays you ofer along the coast near here. RECEPTIONIST: Yes. We operate several tours up the coast. Where in particular did you want to go? CUSTOMER: Wel, I like the sound
2、of the holiday that mentioned whales. Was it Whale Watching? RECEPTIONIST: Oh, thats our Whale Watch Experience. lts very popular and its based in a lovely litle town with nice beaches. CUSTOMER: Oh right, and how long does it last? RECEPTIONIST: Its two days - that includes four hours travel time e
3、ach way from here. CUSTOMER: Good, I dont want to be away any longer than that. So is that by coach? RECEPTIONIST: Actualy its by minibus. We like to kep those tours small and personal so we dont take a whole coachload of people. in fact, we only take up to fifteen people on this tour, although we d
4、o run it with just twelve or thirten. CUSTOMER: Oh, right. So do you run these tours often? RECEPTIONIST: Wel it depends on the time of year. Of course in peak times like the sumer holidays we do them every wekend, but at the moment its usualy once a month at most. CUSTOMER: And when is the next one
5、 going? RECEPTIONIST: Mmm, let me se. Um, theres one in thre weks time which is April the 18th, and then we dont have another one until June the 2nd. CUSTOMER: All right, and is April a god time to go? RECEPTIONIST: Pretty god. Though the really god time is later in the year. I have to say though th
6、at the whale sighting is only one of the many things offered. CUSTOMER: Realy? RECEPTIONIST: Yes. The hotel itself where you stay has great facilities. Its caled The Palisades. CUSTOMER: The Paris what? RECEPTIONIST: No, its actualy The Palisades, P-A-L-L-I-S-A-D-E-S. Its right on the main beach the
7、re. CUSTOMER: Oh, I se. RECEPTIONIST: All of the roms have nice views and the fod is realy god there too. CUSTOMER: Oh right. CUSTOMER: And what about the other things? You know, that are included in the price. RECEPTIONIST: Oh, there are lots of things. If you dont want to do the whale watch cruise
8、, your guide wil take anyone who is interested either on a bushwalk through the national park near the hotel, and theres no extra charge for that, or on a fishing trip. Thats an extra $12 I think. And theres also a reptile park in town - that costs more or les the same. CUSTOMER: No, I think Id pref
9、er whales to snakes. RECEPTIONIST: Yeah. And if you just want to relax you are fre to sit by the hotel pool or go down the beach. Oh, and they also have tenis courts at the hotel, but you have to pay for those by the hour. But there are table tenis tables downstairs and theyre part of the accomodati
10、on package. Just speak to your guide. CUSTOMER: Wel that sounds god. So how much is the basic tour price? RECEPTIONIST: At this time of year its usualy around $30 but let me check. Eroh, its actually $280. CUSTOMER: And the next tour, are there any places on that one? RECEPTIONIST: HOW many people I
11、s It for? CUSTOMER: These are two of us. RECEPTIONIST: Yes, that should be fine. Can I just mention that we require al bookings to be made at least fourteen days before you travel to avoid cancellations of tours. And if you cancel within seven days of departure you wil have to pay 50% of your total
12、boking. CUSTOMER: OK. RECEPTIONIST: And you also ned to pay a 20% deposit at the time of boking. CUSTOMER: Can I pay that by credit card? RECEPTIONIST: Yes, you can. CUSTOMER: All right, what Il do is Il talk to my partner and get back to you. RECEPTIONIST: Fine. So Il make a provisional boking, sha
13、ll I? - two for the Whale Watch Experience. Let me isue you with a customer reference number for when you call back. Do you have a pen? CUSTOMER: Yes. RECEPTIONIST: OK, its thre nine seven, four five, T. Thats T for tango. When you call back, ask to speak to the Tour Manager, thats me, Tracy. CUSTOM
14、ER: Fine, I wil. SECTION 2 Helo and welcome to todays “Buyer Beware” programe, where we give you some tips on how to spend your money wisely. Now, in todays show were looking at beds for children and babies. Lets start by looking at baby cots, thats for children of up to three years old. We tested t
15、hree diferent cots all in the budget price range and, as usual, we wil feature the good points, the problems and our verdict. The first cot we looked at was by Baby Safe and it had several good points to recomend it. Our testers liked the fact that it had four whels, so it was easy to move around. T
16、he only slight problems with this cot were that it had no brakes, but they didnt think that matered to much. At first they were a bit concerned about the side bar, because they felt babies could trap their fingers in it, but our testers felt that this was unlikely to hapen so they have given this on
17、e a verdict of “satisfactory”. The next cot was by Choice Cots and this time our testers were pleased to find a cot which is simple to put together - unlike others we loked at. On the minus side, our testers did not like the fact that the side of the cot did not drop down, making it dificult to pick
18、 up newborn babies. However, the real problem with this cot was the space between the bars; our testers found they were to wide and a baby could easily trap his head. We felt this was a real safety hazard and so we have labelled this one dangerous, Im afraid. And finaly beter news for the Mothers Ch
19、oice cot. This cot was slightly diferent in that, although the side bar did not drop down, the base could be raised or lowered into two diferent positions making it safe as wel as convenient. The negatives for this one were quite minor; the only nigle everyone had was the fact that it has no wheels
20、and the only other problem anyone could find, was that there were pictures which were simply stuck on and so could easily become detached. The makers have now promised to discontinue this practice. As this cot wil then be safe in every way, we have made the Mothers Choice cot our best buy. Congratul
21、ations Mothers Choice! So, what features should you lok for in a babys cot? Well obviously safety is a very important factor as well as comfort and convenience. We recomend that, if you are buying a cot, do make sure that any metal present is not rusted or bent in any way. You should ensure your cot
22、 has only rounded or smoth edging without any sharp edges, this is especialy important for wooden cots. And now on to beds for todlers SECTION 3 ANDREW: Excuse me, I was told to come here for advice about, erm, Management Diploma courses? MONICA: Youve certainly come to the right place. Hi, my name
23、is Monica. ANDREW: Nice to met you. My name is Andrew, Andrew Haris. MONICA: So, Andrew, have you seen our diploma course prospectus yet? ANDREW: Yes, Ive already looked at it. In fact, I thought the information on course content was really useful, but Im afraid Im a bit confused by all the diferent
24、 ways you can do the course: full-time intensive, part-time and so on. MONICA: Wel, lets se if I can help. I think each course type has its advantages and disadvantages, so it realy depends on you - your own study habits, and your financial circumstances, of course. Are you working at the moment? AN
25、DREW: Yes. Ive ben working in the administration section of the local hospital ANDREW: What about the modular course? What would I have to do for that? for the last thre years. And before that I worked in the office of a computer engineering company for two years. So, Ive got about five years of rel
26、evant work experience. And what Im hoping to focus on is Personnel Management. MONICA: I se. And are you planing to leave your curent job to study, or are you thinking about just taking a year off? ANDREW: I want to know what my options are, realy. I dont want to quit my job or anything and my emplo
27、yers are keen for me to get some more qualifications but obviously, it would be beter if I could do a course without taking to much time away from work. MONICA: Right, so you dont realy want to do the ful-time course, then? ANDREW: No, not realy. Its also a question of finances. You se, my ofice hav
28、e agreed to pay the cost of the Course itself, but I would have to take unpaid leave if I want to study full-time and, wel, I dont think I could afford to suport myself with no salary for a whole year. MONICA: OK. Wel, you have two other posibilities: you could either do the part-time course- that w
29、ould be over two years and you wouldnt have to take any time off work - or you could do what we cal a modular course. You could do that in eighten months if you wanted - or longer, its quite flexible and it would be up to you. ANDREW: Mmm. So what does the part-time course involve? MONICA: For that
30、you would join an evening class and have a lecture twice a week. Then, youd have to atend a seminar or discusion workshop one weekend a month. ANDREW: What kind of coursework would I have to do? MONICA: Wel, its a mixture. Youd be expected to write an esay each month, which counts towards your final
31、 asesment. You have a case study to do by the end of the course, which might involve doing a survey or something like that, and also you ned to hand in a short report every four weks. ANDREW: So, thats quite a lot of work, then, on top of working every day. It sounds like a lot of studying - and rea
32、lly tiring. MONICA: Yes, you certainly wouldnt have much fre time! MONICA: Thats where you get the opportunity to study ful-time for short periods. That way you can cover a lot of coursework and atend lectures and seminars during the day. And each module lasts for one term, say, about twelve weks at
33、 a time. There are obvious advantages in this - the main one being that you can study in a much more intensive way, which suits some people much beter. ANDREW: And how many of these modules would I have to do to get the diploma? MONICA: The curent programe is two modules - and then you have to choos
34、e a topic to work in more depth - but you can base that on your job, and so you dont need to be away from the ofice, and how long it takes is up to you. ANDREW: The important thing is that you dont have to study and work. You can focus on one thing at a time. MONICA: Yes, I can se that. It certainly
35、 sounds atractive! It would be more expensive, though. I mean, Id have to suport myself without pay for each module. ANDREW: Thats true, so that might be a problem for you. Lok, why dont you talk this over with your employers and SECTION 4 OK, so weve ben loking at the atitudes of various social and
36、 cultural groups towards the management of their personal finances - how important they feel it is to save money, and what they save their money for. One aspect that we havent yet considered is gender. So if we consider gender isues were basically asking whether men and women have diferent atitudes
37、towards saving money, and whether they save money for diferent things: Back in 1928 the British writer George Bernard Shaw rote in his Intelligent Womens Guide to Socialism and Capitalism that A man is suposed to understand polities, economics and finance and is therefore unwiling to accept essentia
38、l instruction. lie also said, A woman, having fewer pretensions, is far more wiling to learn. Now, though these days people might question a lot of the asumptions contained in those statements, recent research does sugest that there are some quite fundamental diferences betwen men and women in their
39、 atitudes to economic maters. Lets look at what men and women actualy save for. Research studies of women in North America have found that women are far more likely to save for their childrens education and they are also more likely to save up in order to buy a house one day. The same studies have f
40、ound that men, on the other hand, tend to save for a car, which by the way takes a surprisingly large amount of the household budget in North America. But the other main priority for men when saving money is their retirement. When theyre earning, theyre far more likely to put money aside for their o
41、ld age than women are. Now this is rather disturbing, because in fact the ned for women to save for their old age is far greater than for men. Lets consider this for a moment. To start with, it is a fact that throughout the world, women are likely to live many years longer than men, so they ned mone
42、y to suport them during this time. Since women are likely to be the ones left without a partner in old age, they may therefore have to pay for nursing care, because they dont have a spouse to lok after them. Furthermore the high divorce rates in North America are creating a poverty cycle for women.
43、It is the divorced women who wil most often have to look after the children and thus they ned more money to lok. after not just themselves but others. So what can be done about this situation? The population in North America is likely to contain an increasing number of elderly women. The research in
44、dicates that at present for women it takes a crisis to make them think about their future financial situation. But of course this is the very worst time for anyone to make important decisions. Women today need to lok ahead, think ahead - not wait until theyre under pressure. Even women in their earl
45、y twenties need to think about pensions, for example, and with increasing numbers of women in professional positions there are signs that this is beginning to happen. Then research also suggests that women avoid dealing effectively with their economic situation because of a lack of confidence. The b
46、est way for them to overcome this is by getting themselves properly informed so they are les dependent on other peoples advice. A number of initiatives have been set up to help them do this. This Colege, for example, is one of the educational institutions which ofers night classes in Money Managemen
47、t, and increasing numbers of women are enroling on such courses. Here, they can be given advice on diferent ways of saving. Many women are unwiling to invest in stocks and shares, for instance, but these can be extremely profitable. It is usualy advised that at least 70% of a persons savings should
48、be in low-risk investments but for the rest, financial advisors often advise taking some wel-informed risks. Initiatives such as this can give women the economic skils and knowledge they need for a comfortable, independent retirement. The increasing proportion of elderly women in the population is l
49、ikely to have other economic consequences TEST 2 SECTION 1 LIBRARIAN: Good morning, North Colege Library. How can I help you? MAN: I was wondering if it was posible to join the library. LIBRARIAN: Are you a student at North Colege? MAN: No, Im not, but someone told me it was posible to join, even if I wasnt. LIBRARIAN: Thats right, it is. Are you over 18? Thats our minimum joining age. MAN: Yes, I am. LIBRARIAN: Thats no problem then. MAN: Could you tel me what I have to do to join? LIBRARIAN: Wel, y
