L2 039 Listening Exam

Listening scripts
TASK 1 musket balls and received a sword wound to
her head. Medics bandaged her head, but the
Text 1 musket wounds were in her leg. She feared
she would be unmasked if she took her pants
 Hello, this is Fort Sheridan Radio. It’s Ma 27 ,
th
off, so she accepted no more medical help.
Memorial Day. Our guest is a historian, She removed one musket ball herself, but the
Brandon Jackson. He will tell us about Deborah other one as deep i her leg a d she did ’t
Sampson, a woman who served in the remove it at all. Consequently, next summer
Continental Army during the American she became very ill. The doctor saw she was
Revolutionary War. Brandon, could women near death. He removed her shirt to check the
th
join the army in the 18 century? heartbeat. That way he discovered his patient
 The ould ’t, ut Deborah Sampson enlisted. was a woman. And he informed his superiors
She just dressed up as a man. about De orah’s identity.
 Ca ou tell us a it a out De orah’s  What happened later?
background?  Surprisingly, Deborah continued her service till
 She was born in Massachusetts, 1760, as one the end of the war. She was honourably
of 7 children. Her family was very poor. discharged from the army in 1783, but as ’t
De orah’s other as ill a d ould ’t support paid for her service. Then, she successfully
the children. So, at the age of 10, Deborah petitioned Governor John Hancock and, in
started working as a servant. She was 15, and 1792, she received a pension of thirty-four
still doing the same job, when America pounds. And when she died in 1827, her
declared its independence. children received compensation by a special
 Did she work hard? act of Congress.
 She worked and learnt hard. At her aster’s  Brandon, thank you very much.
home, she learned to cook, work farm
equipment, and shoot a musket. Physical work Text 2
made her strong, which was important when
she joined the army later. Deborah was freed  Hello, this is POLONUS RADIO. Today we are
from her job as a servant when she was 18, talking about the Warsaw Uprising. Our
and then she worked as a teacher until the age guest is Jamie Scott. He would like to tell us
of 22. about a Nigerian musician, August Agbola
As the Revolutionary War continued, Deborah O’Bro . Ja ie, hat has an African
first tried to join the army. She enlisted under musician got to do with the Warsaw
a name of Timothy Thayer. Yet, when she was Uprising?
signing the papers, she oti ed the re ruiters’  Quite a lot. But let me start from the
surprise. At first, she worried that her clothes egi i g. O’Bro as or i Nigeria.
gave her away. Then she suspected that the When he was 19, he started working as a
a e she’d i e ted as alread used jazzman in London. Then he travelled round
a other soldier. Fi all , she realized that she’d Europe with his band. In 1922, he went to
been holding her pen like a woman. the free city of Gdansk. He played there for
 And Timothy Thayer never turned up for almost two years. Then, he moved to
ilitar ser i e… Warsaw.
 That’s right. She decided to study the way men  Did he like Warsaw?
held their pens. Then, she dressed up and tried  He loved performing for Polish audiences.
talking to her mother in desguise. When her He was a great percussionist and a gifted
other did ’t re og ise her, De orah k e comedian. He made funny impersonations
she was ready to enlist. This time she joined of Adolf Hitler. He spoke German fluently,
the army as Robert Shurtleff. and the way he imitated the dictator made
rd
Things got complicated on July 3 1782, when everybody laugh. Generally, he had a flair
Deborah was wounded. She was shot twice by for languages. He spoke Polish with a funny
 accent, but made very few mistakes. He couldn't see anyone. We had to wait. Ten
wanted to start learning Russian, but then minutes later other troops from the patrol
the war started, and he never did. arrived. They carried stretchers and fire
 What happened when the war began? extinguishers, ready to help us. They lifted the
 He stayed in Poland and fought against the commander out of the vehicle and some
Germans. And in 1944 he fought in the others managed to free the driver. I was
Warsaw Uprising. He was in Battalion called worried because it was my job to help the
Iwo in central Warsaw. His Commander was injured. At that moment I felt really weak, so
Aleksa der Mar iński, ode a e Swan. the boys had to sit me down. I still continued
 Jamie, how do you know August’s stor so to instruct them how to give first aid.
well?  Thank you, Lcpl Smith. It's good to have you
 I read the accounts of another soldier, Jan back.
Radecki, code-name Black. The accounts say  I'm going to let you ask Lcpl Smith some
August fought in Battalion Iwo and his code questions. When you finish with the questions,
name was Ali. I also talked to people who there will be a short break. Unfortunately,
remember August from pre-war Warsaw. after the break we will have to move to
 Jamie, it’s ee ost i teresti g talki g to building number eight, room number twenty-
you. three, as this room needs to be freed for
another presentation. Lcpl Michael Masters is
going to be our next speaker.
TASK 2

 Good morning. Thank you for joining me TASK 3

toda . I’ Capt Morga fro the Ro al Ar
Medical Corps. I am proud to inform you that  There’s ee a series of s ake ites i Arizo a
two of our medics have lately received medals and Texas. Today our guest is Liam Blue, who
for bravery. They have just come back from was bitten by a rattlesnake four years ago.
Afghanistan and they are going to tell you Liam, can you tell us how it happened?
their stories. The first one speaking will be  Well, the thi g is that it should ’t ha e
Lance Corporal Jonathan Smith. happened at all. I grew up in the Arizonian
 Good morning. It's good to be back home. countryside. Rattlesnakes are a big scare
Well, I'm here to tell you what happened to there. But, you see, after high school I went to
me while I was in Afghanistan. I was working ollege i Phoe i , the it here I still li e. I’d
as part of a counter-IED team. I was in the nearly forgotten how dangerous the Arizonian
command vehicle of a convoy with two other countryside is. One summer, I was visiting my
colleagues. We left the base at 9:30 and we friend, Tessa. She has a farm near Tucson. Her
were on our way to the nearby village. garden was full of fruit and vegetables. I
Suddenly, our vehicle was thrown into the air thought I'd pick some tomatoes to make lunch
by a powerful Taliban bomb. The vehicle was for myself and my girlfriend, Christine. I
an armoured Mastiff. As you know, it weighs reached into one of the tomato bushes
25 to es, so I’ sure ou a i agi e it without looking, and felt severe pain. There
wasn't a pleasant experience. I think I lost were two bloody marks on my knuckles. Then I
consciousness for a couple of seconds. Then I heard a noise - a rattling snake's tail.
woke up and I had a pain in my ears. The only  What did you do?
thing I could hear was loud, piercing ringing.  I just stood there grasping my hand, while
Quite painful, but after a few seconds I think Christine tried to spot the snake. We knew we
the adrenaline kicked in. Then I continued with would need to describe it to the doctors. She
my duties. There was a cloud of dust and part soon noticed a two-foot diamondback
of the vehicle was on fire, but I managed to rattlesnake: a particularly aggressive type.
cut myself free and reached the driver. I  Responsible for most snake-related deaths in
checked if he was conscious and stable enough the US.
to leave. Then I searched for the commander. I  Right. We went to the house to call an
knew the commander would be the most ambulance. When Tessa saw my hand she was
injured because he was on top cover. His leg terrified. She said calling an ambulance was a
was trapped and he couldn't breathe, so I waste of time. The hospital was nearby and we
knew I had to quickly sit him up and take his would get there more quickly by car. We got
body armour off. I shouted for help but I into the car and Christine started driving. Near
 the hospital, she ould ’t fi d the e erge
department. She was driving around frantically
and finally Tessa replaced her behind the
wheel. When we reached the emergency
department, my hand was already turning
blue.
 What happened next?
 A nurse said I desperately needed an antidote.
Unfortunately, it had to be fetched from
another hospital. So for the next hour, the
doctors took blood samples, and ultra
sounded my hand.
 The the a tidote arri ed a d…
 I needed 22 vials of it. I stayed in intensive
care for three days. My arm was so swollen,
I was sure it would have to be amputated.
Luckily, after four days, a doctor told me I
would keep my arm. God, it was such a relief!
 Liam, did the attack change your life?
 Well, snakes became my obsession. I suffered
from a phobia which was making my life
difficult. A therapist told me I had to confront
my fear. So, against all odds, I went to a
rattlesnake show in Texas. A snake wrangler
there was teaching the audience how to
handle rattlesnakes safely with tongs and
hooks. When I heard a rattling sound, I was
covered in sweat. Some people went on stage
a d follo ed the ra gler’s i stru tio s. I sat
in the audience and just looked on. The
su ess as that I did ’t lea e the pla e
immediately. That experience made me feel
better afterwards.
 Thank you so much for sharing your
experience with us, Liam.
 You’re el o e.