CEPT Practice B1 Level - Extended listening about an interview with a basketball player

 

Audioscript

You will hear an interview with Helen who is a basketball player. For each question put a tick in the correct box. You will hear the recording twice.

Interviewer: Welcome to 'Sport People', the programme where we talk to people interested in different sports. Today we have in the studio Helen who plays basketball and lives in the United States with her twin sister. She's back in Britain for a holiday. Welcome Helen. Tell us, where are you living in the States?

Helen: In North Carolina. Our hobby was playing basketball and a friend of ours told us about colleges in the United States which train people in particular sports. We were both really excited at the idea so we applied and we got places because we're good at basketball.

Interviewer: So you went to the United States straight from school?

Helen: No, we had started at college in England. The lectures and everything were free there but we had to pay for our training which was really expensive. At the American college everything is free except for our accommodation. We don't pay for our courses and we get free basketball training. We actually have our own trainer.

Interviewer: And in return you play in their college team.

And what about the rest of the team? What are they like?

Helen: Fine. We get on well. We're lucky we've never had to stop playing because of injuries. Quite a few in the team have had to stop playing because they hurt themselves. We aren't very tall in comparison to the rest of the team – in fact we're the smallest, but we're just as strong as them, maybe even stronger.

Interviewer: And what's it like being a sports student?

Helen: Well, some people think because we're training and playing matches we don't have to study hard but that's not true. We study sports science and medicine as well as all the other subjects so we study harder in fact. And if we miss any of our classes we're not allowed to play in the team.

Interviewer: Oh, I nearly forgot to ask. When did you first start playing basketball?

Helen: We've been in the United States since last August and we'll be there for at least four years. But we started playing six years ago after watching our brother in matches .. He still plays and he started playing more than ten years ago. His team isn't as good as ours, of course!

Interviewer: And what about your free time?

Helen: Er, I spend most of my time studying and training. I'm not really interested in shopping like most of my friends. My sister and I get quite tired so when we have free time we usually sit in our room by ourselves watching TV. We share ·a room and we look after each other as we are so far from home.

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1 A         2 C      3 B     4 C      5 B      6 B