B1 Level EXTENDED LISTENING about CLASSICAL MUSIC with answer

 

Audioscript:

Presenter: ... and now if you're a regular listener to this programme, you'll know that it’s time for our weekly competition. Last week's prize of two theatre tickets was won by Bill Martins. Congratulations, Bill. I hope you've received your tickets by now.

This week we're offering a classical CD to the first listener who can name the piece oT music and the person who wrote it. I’m going to play the piece in a few minutes, but before I do, you need to get a pencil and a piece of paper, as I’m going to give you some help which should make your job a little easier. Are you ready? Right.

Now, listen carefully, as you might be this week’s lucky winner.

Although the person who wrote this piece of classical music was born in Italy, his parents were French and he spent most of his life in Spain. Have you got that? On to the second point: there is also a famous play which has the same title as mis music and which is usually performed in the open air — in the summer. Any idea yet? I should warn you that it’s not that easy.

Anyway for the next point. When this piece of music was first performed, many people in the audience got up and walked out. At the end they say there was complete silence, which I’m sure wasn’t very pleasant for the writer. People thought the music was terrible and complained about wasting their money. It's amazing really, when you think how popular it is today.

And now for the last point. Part of this music has been used for an advertisement which you can see on television. I'm sure when you hear the music, you’ll know what the advertisement is for. I'm not going to tell you what product it advertises, as that would almost certainly give you the answer! You can also see the advert in a lot of magazines and I think from next month this advert will also be on your cinema screens.

So that's four things to remember. And the phone number to ring if you can give us the title of the music about the name of the man who wrote it is 0018 937 224. And the piece of music is coming up now ...

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B2 Read and select - short text exercises

 Exercise 1

There is, of course, another great reservoir of characters: those ready-made for us in books. A painter who wants to paint a tree needs to do two things: look at trees and look at paintings of trees. The first task shows what trees are like, the second shows the possibilities of the medium. Likewise, as a writer, it is by reading that you learn how, in language, a character can be presented - through dialogue, through action, through physical attributes, interior monologue, etc. - a process that continues until you have absorbed these methods, and they have become a reflex so embedded in your apprehending of the world that you will never notice anything about anybody without secretly assessing its potential for fiction writing. 

The writer compares a novelist to a painter because they both 

A have a natural talent for the work they produce. 

B base their work on what happens in real life. 

C need a lot of time to think about a new project. 

D learn by looking at the methods used by others in their field. 

Exercise 2

First off, let it be loudly asserted that characters, strong characters, are at the heart of all great literature and always will be. Plot, even in detective fiction, is a very secondary matter. Not many readers could outline the plot of the Sherlock Holmes story The Sign of the Four but many people have no difficulty bringing Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to mind. A writer who does not create convincing characters will fail. A writer who creates thrilling, troubling, insistent characters need not worry too much about any other aspect of writing. 

What is said about the role of characters? 

A They need to be carefully integrated into a novel's plot. 

B They are less important in detective stories than other fiction. 

C They can ensure the success of a novel if they fulfil certain criteria. 

D They must be appealing so readers want to learn more about them. 

Exercise 3

Falicon Park was a typical English suburban road, some fifty years old. The individuality of the properties had increased over the years as successive owners had remodelled and added to their homes. Garages had been converted into kitchen extensions and lawns had become parking spaces while adventurous gardeners had experimented with rocks and olive trees or palm trees. About halfway along the southern side of the road was number 18. It was a detached house, double-fronted. The paintwork was in good order although it was not fresh. The concrete driveway was scarred with cracks and oil stains, and the space for parking had been extended with gravel. A yew hedge straggled across in front of the gravelled area. The curtains were firmly closed and the windows too. The place had an unloved air, unlike the majority of its neighbours.

Most of the houses in Falicon Park 

A were almost identical. 

B had large gardens. 

C were well looked after. 

D belonged to large families.

B2 OPEN CLOZE about money (with answers)

 

MONEY

There is no doubt that money, in the form that we know it today, (1)________ what keeps modern economic life functioning. Yet, throughout history, money, in whatever form, has provided people (2)___________the ability to buy (3)____________sell goods.

Thousands of years (4) _______________ , civilisations (5) ______________ to rely on the barter system as a way of exchanging goods. Within this system a person had to exchange one thing for another. This meant that the two parties involved had to (6) _____________ an agreement as to w hat they thought their products were w orth. Items such (7) __________wheat, tobacco and livestock have all been used as money at one time or another. It was not until much later that humans came up (8) ___________ the idea of money in the form of metal coins. So why (9) __________the barter system come to an end? The answer is simple. Coins were much easier to handle and carry around. Since then, the use of coins has become widespread. It has made commerce simpler and has given countries an opportunity (10)______________development by doing business with other countries further afield, which they (11)___________ never done business with before.

In recent years, paper money has become m ore com m on all over the world, as it is easier to use. It (12) ______________ not be long, however, before plastic cards take over completely, replacing coins and paper money.