Cambridge IELTS 20 · Listening · Test 2 · Part 3

Listening Test 2, Part 3: answers explained

Aspects of human geography

The recording and its 10 questions (21–30). Every answer is explained with the words that give it away.

Take the whole test, timed Show the answers

Part 3 recording

Play it once, as in the exam, and answer the questions below as you listen.

Questions 21–30

Matching
21 Population
22 Health
23 Economies
24 Culture
25 Poverty
Multiple choice
26 Rosie says that in her own city the main problem is
27 What recent additions to the outskirts of their cities are both students happy about?
28 The students agree that developing disused industrial sites may
29 The students will mention Masdar City as an example of an attempt to achieve
30 When discussing the ecotown of Greenhill Abbots, Colin is uncertain about

Answers explained

Answer the questions first: finding the evidence yourself teaches more than reading it. The answers stay folded until you ask.

Question 21

D

What you hear

quite straightforward to find on the internet

Why

On population, Rosie warns it is full of facts and statistics and perhaps boring, but Colin says it is quite straightforward to find on the internet. So facts will be easy to find. Rosie's worry about statistics might tempt you towards C, but they are numerous, not few.
Question 22

G

What you hear

fascinating, wasn't it

Why

Rosie raises health, recalling Professor Lee's lecture on a physician using street plans to trace cholera, and Colin replies "Yes, fascinating, wasn't it?" The information they were given was interesting, which is G. Nothing suggests research on it was lacking, so F fails.
Question 23

B

What you hear

I thought that had been taken off the syllabus for this year

Why

Rosie thinks economies had been taken off the syllabus this year, and though she isn't sure, says it might be best to avoid it. So it may not be relevant to their course. B is hedged exactly as she hedges, and Colin accepts: "OK".
Question 24

A

What you hear

It was all so general and the lecturer didn't give any useful examples

Why

Both say the culture lecture was unhelpful: Rosie found it all so general with no useful examples, and Colin took hardly any notes. The information was too vague, which is A. They don't say research is missing, and nobody says it's irrelevant.
Question 25

E

What you hear

They're sometimes deliberately manipulated

Why

Rosie cautions that some poverty figures are sometimes deliberately manipulated, and Colin rephrases it as information changed for political reasons. She agrees. The facts may be unreliable, so E is right. Poverty being a global problem was only Colin's opening point.
Question 26

C

What you hear

a lot of people don't have jobs

Why

Colin suggests theft and robbery, but Rosie says where she comes from that is linked to a more serious issue, that a lot of people don't have jobs, and it is getting worse. So unemployment is the main problem. A is the lesser symptom and homelessness is described as improving.
Question 27

A

What you hear

ideal for buildings that need a lot of space, like for conferences

Why

Colin says the outskirts are ideal for buildings needing space, like conferences, and that a couple of big ones have opened. Rosie says they have some too. Shopping centres (C) bother Colin because city shops close, and Rosie regrets the lack of football facilities.
Question 28

A

What you hear

I bet it's often not budgeted for

Why

On disused industrial sites, Rosie notes dangerous chemicals left behind mean the site must be made safe. Colin says that can't be cheap and is often not budgeted for, and Rosie agrees. So costs may be unexpected. C is rejected, because the buildings aren't architecturally significant.
Question 29

B

What you hear

set out to depend entirely on renewable energy

Why

Rosie calls Masdar City a good example of a city set up to depend entirely on renewable energy, and Colin agrees. Both pedestrianisation and recycling are mentioned, but she says they should stick to power sources. So the example is for sustainable energy use.
Question 30

C

What you hear

I'm not sure how far they've got with it

Why

Colin knows that people opposed Greenhill Abbotts at first, saying plans were unrealistic, and he knows its principles. What he isn't sure about is how far they've got with it, which is how much has been built. He promises to check. A and B are things he states.

Part 3 audioscript

Part 3 · audioscript

ROSIE Colin, I'm really struggling to think of a topic for our human geography assignment.

COLIN Me too, Rosie. I'll tell you what, let's think about the different aspects of human geography and see if we can narrow the topic down a bit to help us decide.

ROSIE OK. So one aspect is population. That would be all about population density and migration and so on. Lots of facts and statistics. Maybe a bit boring?

COLIN Yeah, but quite straightforward to find on the internet.

ROSIE Suppose so. How about health? I'd never thought about the links between that and geography until Professor Lee gave us that lecture on cholera. How in the 19th century, a physician used street plans and plans of water supplies to find the source of a cholera epidemic.

COLIN Yes, fascinating, wasn't it? Or we could do something more general like economies

ROSIE So how financial and commercial factors are linked to the physical environment

COLIN Yeah

ROSIE I thought that had been taken off the syllabus for this year

COLIN Has it

ROSIE I not sure but it might be best to avoid it

COLIN OK. Maybe we could do something on culture. We had that lecture about culture and geography last week.

ROSIE I didn't get much out of that. It was all so general and the lecturer didn't give any useful examples.

COLIN Yeah, I hardly took any notes. It didn't seem worth it.

ROSIE Me neither.

COLIN We could focus on poverty. That's something that's a global problem.

ROSIE The trouble is, Dr Lee was saying, that you have to be careful with some of the figures relating to poverty. They're sometimes deliberately manipulated.

COLIN You mean the information gets changed for political reasons?

ROSIE That sort of thing, yes.

Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30. you Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.

ROSIE So what are we going to do our assignment on? I'll tell you what. One of the possibilities we have discussed is urbanisation and now over half the world population lives in cities. That really important

COLIN OK good idea Rosie Let do that

ROSIE I love living in a big city but of course there are problems

COLIN Things like theft and robbery?

ROSIE Yes, but where I come from, that's linked to another more serious issue, which is that a lot of people don't have jobs. That's getting worse and worse. And we also still have quite a lot of people who are homeless, though that's not quite so bad as it was.

COLIN It would be nice to talk about some positive developments, like some of the new developments on the outskirts of cities.

ROSIE Yeah, they've opened some massive new shopping centres outside my city.

COLIN Yeah, the same with mine, but it means a lot of the shops in the city centre are closing down. But the outskirts are ideal for buildings that need a lot of space, like for conferences. They've opened a couple of big ones.

ROSIE Yes, we've got some too. It'd be nicer to have more facilities for things like football too, but that's not happening where I live.

COLIN Same in my area.

ROSIE We could include something about developing disused industrial sites. It seems like a good idea because you're not doing any harm to the natural environment.

COLIN Yeah, but aren't the buildings architecturally significant?

ROSIE Not really. And what people forget is that they often used quite dangerous materials, chemicals

and things, which haven't been properly cleared away, so the whole site has to be made safe.

COLIN Hmm, that can't be cheap. And I bet it's often not budgeted for.

ROSIE You're right.

COLIN Have you read about Masdar City?

ROSIE In Abu Dhabi? Yes. It was designed to be a green city, wasn't it? That might be a good example of a city which set out to depend entirely on renewable energy.

COLIN Yes we should say something about that It was designed to be totally pedestrianised too wasn't it with the transport underground

ROSIE Yes and they had big plans for recycling to reduce waste to the lowest possible level But let's stick to talking about power sources.

COLIN Then there's that ecotown in England, Greenhill Abbotts. It set out to conform to the usual principles, sustainability and so on. A lot of people were against it at first. They said the plans were unrealistic. I'm not sure how far they've got with it. I'll check.

ROSIE Right. So it looks as if we have a sort of plan.

Part 3 recording

Questions 21–30

Answers explained

Question 21

Question 22

Question 23

Question 24

Question 25

Question 26

Question 27

Question 28

Question 29

Question 30

Part 3 audioscript