L02-COMPLETE TEST-SCRIPT

Section 1
Man: Easylet. Good morning. How can I help you?
Woman: Hello. I saw your advertisement in the paper and I'm calling to ask about renting a flat.
Man: Certainly. What kind of flat had you in mind?
Woman: Well, er, I don't know exactly ... I mean, it depends on price, to some extent.
Man: OK, now we have properties across the whole range.
The average is probably £120 a week.
Woman: Oh, I was hoping for something a little cheaper.
Man: They start at £90, that's the lowest we have usually. And
they go up to £200.
Woman: I could manage the lowest figure.
Man: An important question is how long you're thinking of
staying in the property. We don't do short lets. Woman: I'd want a flat for nine months, perhaps longer.
Man: That would be fine. Our contracts are for a standard six
months, and that can be extended.
Woman: Fine. I'd need to come in and see you? Man: Yes, our office is open from 9 am to 5 pm. Woman:
I'd need to come in on Saturday.
Man: OK, then we're here between 10 am and 4 pm. We also open on Sunday mornings, until 1 pm.
Woman: Saturday is fine. If possible, I'd like to see details of some properties first.
Man: We can post you a list. Or you may find it easier to look on the Internet.
Woman: Oh, yes, I have the address here, thank you. Man: What else would you like to know?
Woman: I wonder what I might need to buy for a flat. What's included in the rent?
Man: That depends on the flat, to a certain extent, although some things are standard in all flats. For example,
every flat has kitchen equipment provided for your use. Woman: Good. Does that also mean tableware, cups,
glasses, plates?
Man: In some flats, but not all.
Woman: OK. And bathroom towels, sheets, and so on?
Man: I don't think any flats have those included.
Woman: I can easily buy some. I don't suppose flats come with a
TV?
Man: In fact they all do - although they may not be the most modern models.
Woman: Oh, that's fine.
Man: But it's different with the telephone. That's up to you to organise. These days, most people seem just to
use their mobile phone.
Woman: I can imagine. What extra charges would I get? Is heating extra?
Man: Yes, it is, but the water bill is part of the rent, so you don't have to pay for that.
Woman: Right, I've noted all that.
Man: Are you looking to move into a flat soon? Woman: I hope so, yes.
Man: The thing is, we have a few flats at the moment that we'd like to get rented out by the end of the
month. Woman: I see.
Man: They're all good flats, and at the price you want. There's one in Eastern Towers, one in Granby
Mansions and another in Busby Garden. All three are nice blocks of flats.
Woman: Could you tell me where they are? I'm at the train station at the moment.
Man: Eastern Towers, if you're coming from the station, isn't
very far. Cross over Citv Bridge. Then go left, and where the road divides, you want the right-hand fork. You'll
see Eastern Towers on the left side of the road. It's a lovely building, with trees around it.
Woman: That sounds nice. What about Granby Mansions?
Man: The best way to get there from the station is probably to go down River Road and then cross over Old
Bridge. The road bends to the right, round the park, and if you follow along, you'll find it there, on the left side.
That's a great location, with lovely views of the park.
Woman: Very nice. And you said there was one more?
Man: Busby Garden, yes. OK, from the station, cross over City Bridge, keep going through the first crossroads
until you come to the second crossroads. Busby Garden will be facing you, over to the right side. It's very
convenient for the shops.
Woman: Fine. Thank you. Well, I'll see you on Saturday.
Section 2
Guide: It's nice to see so many of you here. I'm going to tell you something about Hollylands - our facilities and
activities, and the exhibitions we have coming up. I hope you'll find it interesting and bring your pupils along.
For most of what we have to offer here, you can just turn up with your party. I'm pleased to say that recent work
has meant that the whole centre is prepared for blind visitors. There are a couple of activities where we ask you
to book a week in advance. We only have artists that you can watch painting at certain times, so we need notice
of your coming for that. The other activity requiring at least 7 days' notice is the drama workshop - again, it's a
question of organising the staff at this end. But the video you work yourself, and so that's available any time.
Another activity where you need to think ahead is the garden sculpture experience, but that's a question of the
weather, which of course we can't control! Speaking of weather, we run a reduced range of facilities in the
winter months. While the cafe and the shop provide welcome shelter from the cold and rain, I'm afraid our artist
in residence scheme isn't run in the winter, so the studio is closed then. And the animals in the mini zoo are kept
indoors for warmth during the cold months, so that doesn't operate either. The adventure playground does -
though make sure the children are wrapped up well!

OK, now we run a programme of exhibitions through the year, so I'll tell you about the next few. Our current
exhibition, Local Lives, ends on 26'" August, and then one called History in Pictures starts on 28`" August. This
includes all sorts of objects and experiences from the past, such as farm machinery and some cars. We're sure
children will love the chance to have a ride on an old bus. Next, we're running a show called People at Work,
and this will open on 19`h September. There will be pictures and videos depicting all sorts of jobs, from coal
mining to flying planes. And there's a careers advice service available for everyone to consult. Following on
from that show, we're putting on an exhibition called Land from Air. This starts on 11'" November and includes
hundreds of aerial photographs. A competition accompanies the show, with the exciting prize of a balloon trip
for two. So, we hope to see you at at least one of the exhibitions.

Now, the area occupied by Hollylands is rather large, and we don't want people to get lost, so I'll just give you a
few pointers to help you orientate yourselves. So, whether you come by car or bicycle, you'll come in from the
road. Cars then park to the left, through the gates into the car park, and bikes to the right, through the gates
opposite. Cyclists in particular might be feeling thirsty at this point, and you can get a drink from the machine at
the end of the bike park, halfway to the museum entrance. You can enjoy
your drink in the picnic area, which is opposite the car park. For anyone who doesn't have a mobile phone, there
are pavphones at the far end of the picnic area. Over at the opposite end of the picnic area, across the path, are
the toilets. Next to them, and just to the right of the entrance to the main museum, is the first aid room, which
we hope you won't need, but it's there in case you do. If you have any queries, please go to the manager's office,
which is behind the picnic area. And, last but not least, you'll need to buy your tickets or show your group pass
to the ticket office on the left of the museum entrance. OK, I'll pause there - are there any questions at this
point?
Section 3
Kate: Hi, Martin.
Martin: Hi, Kate. How are you?
Kate: Fine. I'm relieved to have done my presentation! Martin: I'm sure! How did it go?
Kate: Oh, OK in the end, but I was ever so nervous beforehand. It's silly, because I do know my stuff quite
well. I must know those statistics inside out, but when you have to get each table of results to come up in the
right order, it can make you nervous. It was my first time using the computerised projector, and I was sure I was
doing to get the controls wrong, or something. And of course, that's not a good situation, if you know you've got
to listen to questions carefully, and be ready to answer quickly.
Martin: But it was fine once you got going?
Kate: Yes.
Martin: I do feel that the standard of presentations could be improved in general. I think a lot of the lecturers
agree with me, although I don't honestly know what they can be expected to do about it. Students need to
appreciate the difference between style and content. Too many presentations are just a mass of detailed content -
all very worthy - without any attempt to engage people's interest. Basic things, like looking at your audience's
faces, seem to get forgotten. And that makes it harder to concentrate on the points made about the research
itself.
Kate: Yes, there are quite a few improvements I'd like to see. Take tutorials, for example. I feel they're often a
missed opportunity. I come out not feeling sure about what I've learnt. Week in week out, I faithfully plough
through the reading list, which is fair enough, but then the discussion doesn't seem to extract the main issues.
It's frustrating.
Martin: Hmm, I know what you mean. Mind you, we have to take some responsibility ourselves. I actually got
quite a lot from that skills workshop I went to on taking notes, and I'd like to make similar improvements in the
next semester. The reading list we get has several websites each time, and I want to learn to navigate my way
round them more effectively.
Kate: That's sounds a good idea. Mind you, it means spending more time in the library ...
Martin: If you can get in ...
Kate: You mean because it's too crowded? It isn't big enough, is it?
Martin: Well, I don't know. I mean, I like to work late in the evening, and it shuts before I want to finish. But I
know you can access the catalogue from a laptop.
Kate: Which personally I haven't got. Actually, the problem for me is that I like to get up early and start work
straight away, and they don't start until 9. I wish they'd change that.
Martin: Look, we ought to start working out what to do next for our project.
Kate: Yes, enough moaning!
Martin: OK, the main thing is to allocate the various tasks
between us, isn't it?
Kate: Yes. Well, we're going to need the questionnaire before
we can do much else, aren't we? Do you want to handle
that?
Martin: I'd assumed we'd do it together?
Kate: You have more experience than me. Maybe you could
think up the main questions, you know, a first version of
the whole thing, and then I could read it through. Martin: And make suggestions? Well, OK. My experience on
projects has all been with closed groups. I don't really
know how you go about selecting subjects from larger
populations.
Kate: Actually, it's quite straightforward. You use tables of
randomised numbers.
Martin: Could you show me?
Kate: Yeah, I'll take through the process. That way, you'll
learn, and I'll feel surer for having someone else there.
Now, that brings us to the interviews themselves. Martin: Right. Would you like to do them? Or are there too
many?
Kate: Well, your typing's pretty fast, isn't it? So, if agree to
handle the transcribing afterwards, I'm prepared to do
the face-to-face stage. Does that sound fair?
Martin: It does to me. But tell me if you find it takes longer than
you thought.
Kate: And vice versa! And when we get the results altogether,
they'll need to be run through statistics programmes,
won't they? That's where I always feel a bit unsure about
which tests are the correct ones to choose.
Martin: Same here. But we can get advice from the lecturers
about that. Shall we do all that as a joint effort? Kate: I think it'd make us feel more secure about what we
were doing.
Martin: Yes, it would be terrible to get that wrong after all the
hard work leading up to it.
Kate: And then we've got to present the whole thing to the
group. Will you feel up to doing that?
Martin: I think we should do a joint presentation. It's all both our
work, after all.
Kate: I guess you're right. But would mind netting the
slides and so on ready? I find that takes me ages, and
still doesn't look any good.
Martin: Whereas I quite enjoy that kind of thing. OK. Now, we
need to think about ...

Section 4
Lecturer: Good afternoon, everybody. Today I'll be talking about the issue of waste, which has become an
immense problem in today's society. We face huge challenges in terms of reducing its creation in the first place
and then in dealing with it when it has been created. Now, the model of nature would be our ideal - a completely
cyclical system in which no excess waste is generated that can't be processed by itself. However, we humans
have proved, despite our apparent intelligence and ingenuity, quite incapable of achieving this. Where did it all
go wrong? We have evidence that in ancient Greece and Rome governments operated municipal waste
collection, and a huge Stone Age mound was identified some years ago in Norway as waste disposal, so we can
see that people have been generating waste for a very long time indeed. However, during the Dark Ages,
sophisticated municipal waste processing disappeared. The medieval answer to waste was to throw it out of the
window. But this waste, apart from broken pottery and a few metal objects, was largely organic. This meant, of
course, that it was quickly absorbed into the environment by the natural processes of decay. However, many
concerned people, such as doctors, claimed that this created health problems, though it wasn't until science
produced convincing evidence of connection between rubbish and disease that governments an to see the
importance of dealing with the problem effectively. Unfortunately, their response has remained slower n the
generation of waste. It is very hard to deal with waste that won't melt into the environment, as so many of our
modern consumer goods won't, and that's why the invention of plastic has used the worst headache for the
environment - it's more than naturture can deal with.

In order to address the root of the problem of waste, we need to think about what has made the quantity of waste
accelerate in growth. I'd identify three main reasons. As many countries beame industrialised, we saw the
advent of mass manufacturinq. This has been enormously damaging, as it has greatly increased the amount of
things on the planet's surface which don't go away themselves. Closely related to this is packaging - necessary
for transporting things around the world, but then extremely difficult to get rid of properly. And a third aspect to
the problem has been disaosable goods. We have become accustomed to so many things being to use and then
discard that we find it hard to imagine life without them. And yet we spare little thought for where they go when
we do discard them.

Right now, let's move on from where all this waste comes from to what is done with it all now it's here.
Different countries deal with waste differently. Of course, each country also changes what it does, so the figures
for waste treatment I've got here are likely to change in the future. Let's look at Municipal Solid Waste, or
MSW. MSW is important to consider because it's effectively a measurement of consumerism - how much waste
people produce that goes beyond the absolute basic requirements in life to eat and drink. One of the main ways
of dealing with MSW is incineration - burning it. This is adopted variously around the world. The UK burns
relatively little waste, as does the US, while Denmark burns about half of all waste, and Japan uses this method
for as much as three quarters. These are broad brush strokes, of course, because an important issue is how
efficient and clean the burning process is. Another major form of waste treatment is using landfill sites -
basically, burying the waste in the earth. Currently, this method is the dominant process used in the UK at over
80%, and is also heavily used in Germany and in the US, while densely populated and mountainous countries
such as Switzerland and Japan dispose of relatively little this way. A third - and much better way of dealing
with waste is to recycle it, turning it back into more things we need. It must be said that much depends here on
whether further waste is generated by the recycling processes themselves. The UK and Japan have rather poor
records in recycling, while Switzerland tops the table in this respect, and reasonably impressive levels are
achieved by Denmark and Germany. I really hope that if we all gathered here again ten years from now, these
figures would be much higher. Time - and a lot of effort - will tell.