JANUARY TEST - LISTENING TRANSCRIPT

PART 1:
Man: Oh, hello. Is this the right number to call for the short film competition?
Organizer: Yes. How can I help?
Man: I know the competition's been running for ten years, but I've never taken part before. I want to be
clear on the rules. Is 20 minutes the maximum length of the film?
Organizer: That's correct. So should I run through some of the other rules for entry?
Man: That'd be great. I'll make some notes.
Organizer: Alright, so the deadline for getting the whole film made and sending it in to us is on Wednesday, May
the 15th.
Man: Oh, really? I thought the submission date was some time at the end of June the 30th.
Organizer: That's when the judges announce the winners.
Man: Right. I guess I don't have as much time to make this film as I thought.
Organizer: Now, just so it's clear, one of the rules is about the team of people you have working with you. Will
you be doing most of the filming yourself?
Man: Probably yes.
Organizer: Okay. But perhaps you'll be needing some technical support with editing and the audio.
Man: I imagine so.
Organizer: That's fine. But you can't employ any professional actors I'm afraid. They all need to be new to acting.
Having a go for the first time
Man: I see, not a problem. Now, I know that one of the rules is about the things you need to include in your
film.
Organizer: That's right. Last year all films had to include a scene with a broken pair of glasses.
Man: What about this year?
Organizer: Well, it's been decided that one of your main characters has to be a child or if you prefer, it could be
an animal instead. But we have to see them in a number of scenes. Okay?.
Man: All right. I'll have a think about that. I'm not sure which one would be easier to work with.
Organizer: It can certainly be a challenge, but that's what the competition is all about. Now. It's not just our rules
you need to think about. You might also need to get permission, say, for example, if you decided you
wanted to add some music to the film
Man: That sounds complicated. I suppose I could use a local band. People I know that would help out. I
wouldn't need permission in that case.
Organizer: Good idea. Then you don't need to worry about the legal side of things.
Man: All right. That's clearer, actually is that right that the film doesn't need to be in English?
Organizer: Yes. Because if a film wins the competition in this country, it could end up being part of an
international competition. But if you're going to use another language, you've got to provide subtitles
and those do have to be in English and 100% accurate. If they're not, your film won't be accepted in
the competition.
Man: Seems fair.

[pause]

Man: I don't suppose you could give me any advice about making the film, I mean
Organizer: Of course, in my opinion, it's the script that you should concentrate on. That comes first, work out
what everyone's going to say and go from there.
Man: Okay. Thanks for that. And I read somewhere that you shouldn't have too many characters or
locations.
Organizer: Yeah, I'd agree with that.
Man: I also read that with short films, the judges have their preferences. I mean, they seem to like films
with a serious message, like a documentary. I guess I shouldn't do a comedy because not
everyone laughs at the same thing.
Organizer: Yes. Stay away from that kind of film. A story with a clear beginning, middle and end, that's what the
judges look for.
Man: I was thinking I could look at some of the films from last year's competition. You know, to give me a
better idea of what to do.
Organizer: Yes, you could certainly do that. If you go to our website, have a look at last year's winner. His name
was Greg Hyslop.
Man: How do you spell that last name?
Organizer: Sure. It's H-Y-S-L-O-P. His film was actually one of the shorter ones, but the judges really liked it.
Man: Actually, I'm wondering if I've seen that one already, isn't it about an artist, someone who no one
appreciates, but then she ends up selling lots of her paintings?
Organizer: That's right. If you want to have another look, the film is called Imagine. It really holds your attention.
Man: Thanks. I'll have another look after this call.
Organizer: So you know what the prices are? It's $500 for third place, up to $2,000 for the overall winner. And,
of course, the winning films are shown in a theater so the public can see them, too.
Man: That would be an amazing thing to happen. So that would be the Bridge theater. Would it in the city
center?
Organizer: Yes. That's my favorite theater, actually. Lovely view of the river. So, do you have any more
questions that you want to run by?

PART 2:

Hello, everyone. Thanks for volunteering to help with our conservation work in Eskdale Wood next weekend. A big
group like this means we can really achieve a lot. Let's start with the tasks we need to get done. I'm happy to say that
since the last cleanup of the wood, the litter hasn't returned. So that's one job we can forget about. But because of the
recent storm, there's been damage to some older trees. A few big branches have come down and they're blocking the
parts. We need volunteers to pull them off and pile them up somewhere else so they're not in the way. While you're
working, have a look at the bird boxes we placed in the wood last summer. We're sure that most of them have been
used, so that was a job worth doing. The storm has also blown down the fences on the north side of the wood. So we'll
need you to give a hand with repairs. There'll be someone there to supervise, so you'll get that job done quite quickly.

What do you need to bring with you? Gloves are essential. You don't want to end up with cuts and dirt all over your
hands. If you don't have a good pair already, I'd suggest popping into town and buying a pair from the garden center.
They seem to have a good range. Now the forecast is for cloud, but at least it'll be a dry weekend. You can leave your
sunscreen at home. As usual, we'll be handing out any tools you need at the start of the day. Spades, sores, hammers,
it'll all be supplied. There are parts of Eskdale Wood which are still muddy after the storm, so I'd recommend boots.
You'll need to supply your own and I'd put them on in the car park if I were you before you enter the woods. And
thanks to some funding from the local residence committee, we've got a bit of money for snacks, so I'll be bringing
some sandwiches with me for everyone.

[pause]

Right. Some of you have expressed an interest in taking part in this year's Bird Count. The bird count is really useful.
It tells us which native birds are doing well or if their numbers are declining. And we can also find out if there are any
new species of birds, birds that don't normally inhabit the woods. So if you decide to take part in the Bird Count, there
are a few things you need to do. Nowadays, people don't tend to record what they see on paper. It's all done through a
mobile app. To get one of those, you'll need to go online and find a website like Ebird or Nest Watch. If you've never
signed up with them before, register your details and they'll send the mobile app to your phone. Once you've got that
sorted, you need to consider exactly where you're going to count the birds. You might decide to spend the day, say,
just in a single field, or you might want to cover a wider area. It's up to you. Stay away from privately owned land
because you'd need to get authorization for that.

The next thing to do is get some other people to come along and help you. A group that are also interested in birds and
that are capable of using the technology. Yes, because by yourself, it's easy to miss the birds that might be in the trees
behind you. Then on the day of the Bird Count, you need to give all your helpers. A printout showing pictures of the
birds you're hoping to see. The picture should be clear enough so people can really distinguish between similar
looking species. So yes, the document should be in color really. Also remind people that the bird count is not a race to
find the most birds possible. It's supposed to be a group effort with everyone staying in the same place. What else?
Okay, at the end of the day, once all the counting's been finished, get together with the rest of the group. How many
birds of one species has everyone seen? Compare notes. It doesn't really matter if your totals are slightly different. Just
get everyone to work out and decide more or less what the probable number was. Finally, when you're ready to submit
all the data you've collected, have a look at the pictures you've taken. Choose the best one. You want a sharp image of
a single bird rather than an image of a whole lot of birds in the distance. Upload it with your data and you never know
you might get a prize if yours is the best shot. Alright, let's move on to the date.
PART 3:

Oliver: Okay, Chloe, let's put the presentation together. What do you want to include in the introduction?
Chloe: Well, we're looking at the restoration of old paintings and the reproduction, so we should begin with a
definition to show how those two things are different.
Oliver: Is that necessary? Let's start in a visual way, show some paintings that have been restored and talk
about why it was necessary. So, for instance, a painting that was damaged by water and another one
by insects or by sunlight.
Chloe: Okay, let's go with that. It'll get everyone's attention.
Oliver: After the introduction, we should tell everyone about our Museum visit.
Chloe: Yes, it was great to see people restoring paintings in front of us. Did you know that most of the
restores we met didn't have a degree in art history? They've done things like chemistry and
archaeology. I never would have imagined that.
Oliver: Me neither. I had no idea those kinds of skills would be useful.
Chloe: Apparently, a painting can take a year to clean.
Oliver: I guess it would. And one guy I spoke to told me they're always experimenting, reading up on
different ways to clean the paintings.
Chloe: So would you be interested in a career in art restoration? You know, you don't actually need to be able
to draw, so it might suit you.
Oliver: Very funny. Look, I think it would be a great job, but I wouldn't choose to do it. You get to work in
interesting places. That's true. I mean, sometimes you'd be working in a public place, like restoring the
paintings high up on a Church ceiling
Chloe: With the public watching?
Oliver: I wouldn't mind that. But the thing is, when someone owns the painting you're working on, you've got
to get it right. What if they didn't like the colors you'd used? Too much pressure.
Chloe: True. Since we visited the Museum, I'd been researching other restored paintings. One was a Dutch
landscape. It had been hanging in a Museum for over 100 years, and everyone just thought it was a
nice scene of people on the beach. And then a restore started cleaning it and discovered someone had
painted over a whale.
Oliver: A whale?
Chloe: Yes, the original artist had painted a whale on the beach. And later, I suppose the paint I was bought
by someone who sought the whale ruined a pretty scene. And they paid another artist to cover it up.
Oliver: You must be right. Not everyone judges a painting in the same way, obviously. Anyway, we'll have
plenty to say about restoration. What about digital reproduction?
Chloe: Yeah. Digital technology is having quite an impact on the art world. We can now reproduce famous
paintings, and you can see something that looks just like the original.
Oliver: I guess the difference between a digital reproduction and a fake painting is no one's pretending it was
painted by the original artist. And what I like about digital reproduction is you could potentially make
lots of copies so a wider audience can see them.
Chloe: Maybe I'd rather look at the real painting.

[pause]

Chloe: Okay. So if we're talking about digital reproduction of art, we have to mention the company factum,
are they and how they reproduced famous paintings that have been lost or damaged so they can go on
public display?
Oliver: Good idea.
Chloe: Let's note down the challenges the team faced. What about Vincent Van Go's Six Sunflowers? The
original painting was destroyed. The team had a photo of it, but it wasn't very clear
Oliver: Right. They couldn't see how Vango had used his brush. They knew the National Gallery had a nearly
identical Sunflower painting by Vango, and so they had to ask the Gallery whether the team would be
allowed to study and scan it so they could reproduce the brush strokes in the right way.
Chloe: They got approval in the end.
Oliver: What about the concert? The original was stolen, right?
Chloe: The team had a photo they could use, but the problem was, it was a photo of the concert after
someone had tried to touch it up with fresh paint.
Oliver: And they'd done a terrible job, haven't they?
Chloe: Yes. But the team were happy with the reproduction in the end, we should mention the portrait of Sir
Winston Churchill.
Oliver: Churchill hated that portrait, so his wife burnt it and nothing was left.
Chloe: So the phantom arty team had to search for the pencil sketches the artist had also made of Churchill as
part of his preparation.
Oliver: Right. For me, I was most interested in the water lilies B
Chloe: By Cloud Mane. In that case, the painting wasn't lust, but the top layer of paint had turned completely
black because of smoke from a fire. The team had to work out what the colors beneath that layer had
been.
Oliver: And then there was Marito, a painting by tomorrow Dylan Pika. No one knows for sure what
happened to the original. At least a team had a black and white photo they could work from
Chloe: But they needed to know what colors Lim Pico would have used. And most of her other paintings are
held in private collections. Because of that, they couldn't go and see them. That's a shame, because her
work would have been.

PART 4:

Hello, everyone. So I'd like to tell you about some of the challenges of living in space. We'll start with the
International Space Station, or ISS, as it's often called. The ISS has been in space in orbit around the Earth since 1998.
Over 1200 astronauts have lived on board, and one of the biggest challenges for them is living in microgravity. So,
what happens when you're living in microgravity 24 hours a day for months?

For a start, it affects your blood circulation on Earth. Your blood would naturally be pulled towards your feet. But in
space it goes to your head and we'll talk a bit more about the consequences of that later. But it also goes to your chest.
And that's why astronauts have to be careful about their blood pressure. Microgravity also affects the minerals stored
inside your body over time. For example, the amount of calcium inside your bones begins to decrease, so the bones
become weaker. Yes, it's not much fun living in space. The astronauts have to maintain a very strict exercise program.
They do 2.5 hours of exercise six days a week if they don't, what happens is that their muscle begins to waste. Some of
it also turns into fat. And one final problem that some astronauts experience, they find that when they get back to
Earth, they can't see clearly. Scientists aren't exactly sure why this happens, but it seems that the astronauts vision can
be permanently affected.

Another challenge with the living in the ISS is you have to take everything you need with you. So space agencies like
NASA are constantly improving the way they recycle things. Water, of course, is a vital resource, and every little bit
counts. That means that even the sweat that the astronauts produce is recycled. I know that doesn't sound very nice,
but NASA says their water is purer than anything you'd drink on Earth.

So, what's next? Humans are already living in space in the space station, but now the goal is to live on the Moon or
Mars. For this, we need to make buildings. And the challenges for engineers and architects are even harder. It's
incredibly expensive to transport materials into space, so they need to be as light as possible. The alternative is to use
materials which already exist on the moon or mars. And this does seem to be the sensible way forward. So to make
buildings on the moon, for example, we could use rock, and the moon also has plenty of useful minerals. These can be
made into metal into brick. And some engineers are also suggesting they could produce paint. So it seems everything
we need for a basic building might already be on the moon. Actually, there's one thing that NASA hasn't managed yet,
and that's to increase the size of the windows on the ISS, they're very small. And if people were going to live in
buildings on the moon, this is something NASA still has to work on.

So, even if we managed to create a network of buildings for people to live in on the Moon or Mars and grow food and
be self-sufficient, they would still need mental stimulation and opportunities to relax and stay in touch with what was
happening back on Earth. Virtual reality could be the answer. Imagine you're living on the moon, but you could use
virtual reality to walk around a museum and see all the exhibits. That would be incredible. And by using virtual
reality, you could continue your education by, say, studying for a qualification that might be useful in your current
environment, or once you're back on Earth. Now Mars is a different thing….