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Short Conversations

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B2 First Listening Part 1,talking about sportWelcome to our free open resource for B2 First Listening Part 1 with short conversations to give you practice so you feel confident when the B2 First exam day arrives.

About 10 minutesStrengthening listening comprehensionCambridge English B2 First Exam

B2 First Listening Part 1 (Short Conversations)

In this activity, we will practise listening to short conversations.

Exercise 1TranscriptWord List

1. You hear part of an interview in which a film director talks about his favourite movie. Why does he like the film?

2. You hear a man talking about a sofa he bought. what is he complaining about?

3. You hear an actor talking about using different accents in his work. What point is he making about actors?

4. You hear part of an interview in which a man is talking about winning his first horse race? What does he say about it?

5. You hear a writer of musicals talking on the radio. What is he trying to explain?

6. You hear the beginning of a lecture about ancient history. What is the lecture going to be about?

7. You hear a man talking about travelling from London to France. What does he say about the train journey?

8. You hear a woman in a shop talking about some lost photographs. What does she think the shop should give her?


 

Question 1. – So, do you have a favourite movie? – Oh … that’s difficult. Well … I think it has to be The Agents, the Mel Rivers movie. I like it because it reminds you that no matter how hard life is, or how many times you get knocked down by bad situations, things can get a whole lot worse. – When did you first see it? – On television, late one night… I must have been about sixteen. There were moments when I just couldn’t stop laughing. It’s anarchic and silly, but it’s very warm. I love the friendship that develops between the two main characters.

Question 2. I think this is the last time I’m buying anything from that shop. I can’t believe how inefficient they are! But they’ve got reasonable prices. The next time I buy a sofa, I’d be prepared to pay double to avoid all this stress. They came to deliver it, and when I saw it I thought, This isn’t the sofa I chose, maybe the colour looks different in daylight. But it was mine And then I realised that part of the cover at the back was torn and the filling was coming out. So I got them to take it away and now I have to wait two weeks to get it replaced.

Question 3. Most actors start out with a bit of a regional or non-standard accent of some sort, but what tends to happen is that, at drama school, part of the training is to acquire what’s called ‘standard English’. So you lose your original accent and when somebody says, you know, ‘Do something in your old voice,’ it takes a couple of minutes to click in and get your head round it again. I phone my parents and they say, ‘My, you sound so English!’ but then over here I sometimes don’t get work because people can hear that I’m actually Australian, so I’ve got a bit more work to do there.

Question 4. – Can you still remember the thrill of it? I mean, the first time you actually ride out there, out in front must be … – Yeah, yeah, it was certainly a big thrill, but it was an evening event. It was the last race and it was almost dark by the time we’d finished and when I got home it was about ten or eleven o’clock, so there was very little time to think about it or do anything. And I had to be up at about half five the next day for my job, so, unfortunately, it was straight back to work really.

Question 5. I was always fascinated by the musical theatre, from the very word go. My aunt was an actress, not a particularly successful one, but I thought her world was unbelievably glamorous. And she used to take me to London to see some of the American musicals which were on in Great Britain some time after they were on in New York, and so I got to see a lot of things at a very early age. It just grabbed me, it was one of those things. Question 6. The earliest records of this trade go back to the Ancient Greek period, with various deals around the Mediterranean area. Unlike the trade in more decorative or luxury goods, however, few written records remain. So we mostly rely on archaeological evidence, which does show, for example, that designs for swords spread from Greece to the rest of Europe. And using the type of research more usually associated with the spread of artistic trends, we can now show how the equipment necessary to do battle was being exported.

Question 7. The best thing about the Eurostar train is that it is city centre to city centre. I almost always travel with colleagues and we use the train as a second office. Sometimes there are as many as nine of us and I schedule formal meetings to have on the train. I invite suppliers and clients who have meetings in Paris on the same day to travel with us so we can discuss business. It’s a perfect opportunity to talk without the distractions of the office – we don’t switch on our mobile phones.

Question 8. It’s no good just standing there saying you’re sorry, because that isn’t going to give me the photographs you’ve lost, Is it? And I took them on a once-in-a- lifetime holiday, so it’s impossible to replace them. It didn’t cross my mind for an instant that you could lose a roll of film, just like that. To be frank, I think it’s an insult just to offer me a new roll in its place. I would expect at the very least to be offered a refund, and compensation for the loss and inconvenience, even if it isn’t your normal policy.

Here are the keywords and phrases covered in this activity

  • archaeological evidence
  • bad situations
  • compensation
  • Eurostar train
  • fascinated
  • inconvenience
  • non-standard accent
  • normal policy
  • main characters
  • mobile phones
  • original accent
  • Mediterranean area
  • musical theatre
  • reasonable prices
  • refund
  • thrill
Extra Free Exercises for B2 First Listening Part 1.

B2 First Listening and Speaking Section

Requires being able to follow and understand a range of familiar spoken materials, such as news programmes, public announcements and other sources, but targeted at the interests of the learners.

In this part you talk to the examiner about yourself and your life, e.g. your name, school, interests and future plans.

In this part, you talk about two photos on your own which you have to compare for about 1 minute. After you have finished, your partner will be asked a short question about your photo. When your partner has spoken about their photos for about 1 minute, you will be asked a question about their photos.

In this part you express ideas with your partner by looking at a discussion point that the examiner gives you.

This will be available soon.

In this part, you focus on general aspects of a topic with the examiner or you may involve your partner.

This will be available soon.

In this part, you will hear people talking in eight different situations.

In this part, you will hear five people talking about different things.

In this part, you will hear an interview.

B2 First Use of English and Reading Section

You need to be able to understand a range of texts, including how they are organised and the opinions and attitudes expressed in them. The texts will be from sources familiar to you such as magazines, articles, fiction and advertisements, but targeted at the interests of students. Students’ use of English will be tested by tasks which show how well they can control their grammar and vocabulary.

For this part, you practice how to understand the details of a text, including opinions and attitudes.

For this part, you practice how to understand the structure and follow the development of a text.

For this part, you practice how to find specific information in a text or texts.

B2 First Writing Section

You are required to produce two pieces of writing. The first piece is compulsory and will be an essay of 140-190 words. For the second, you can choose from an article, email/letter, essay, review or report (B2 First for schools the report is replaced with a story) of 140-190 words.

Especially helpful are exercises that are focussed on a theme or topic as these provide word retention practise so you can be confident to read, write, speak and listen successfully. We have many activities to get your English up to speed in no time.

Customs and Traditions explores how we celebrate our cultural identity across the globe.

Entertainment and Leisure explores how we spent our free time.

Environment and Nature explores the way humans and animals live, adapt and change on our planet.

Exploring how different societies create roles for people to develop their skills and knowledge.

Exploring how we learn and adjust to the world around us. .

Exploring how we experience the world through our life journeys

The more words you encounter and understand, the broader your day-to-day vocabulary will become. Our word games and puzzles such as our films word search are an excellent way to help to reinforce spellings in your mind.
Level Links:
This free material for students at an Upper Intermediate Level of English. This will probably be suitable for students in their third or fourth year of English studies. We add exercises on grammar and vocabulary as well as whole text activities on a regular basis. In addition, we provide test practice activity for students who are preparing for the C1 Advanced which is part of the Cambridge Assessment English Main Suite as well as the English Language B for the IB Diploma. The material will also support students studying for the Cambridge Advanced courses and IELTS examinations.

We also provide free resources across the full range of levels to provide the tools to communicate in English well.

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