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‫Hello and welcome back to your second elds listening practice test, as always, there are four sections

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‫with 40 questions in total.

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‫Remember to use the time to read through the questions answered, checked your answers when I prompt

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‫you.

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‫Well, let's begin.

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‫Section one, you will hear a conversation about a language course, but before that you have some time

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‫to look through questions one to five.

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‫You will see that there is an example that has been done for you on this occasion only you will hear

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‫a conversation about this example and its answer.

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‫The answer is level three or intermediate, and you can see that this has been filled out for you.

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‫Now we can start the test.

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‫You should answer the questions as you listen as you will only hear the recording want.

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‫Listen carefully and answer questions one to five.

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‫Patterson, John Patterson, could you spell that for me, please, Mr. Patterson, p e, double t e

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‫r, double s o and that's a double T and A double s, am I right?

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‫That's right.

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‫Now, could I ask you where the course takes place?

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‫Well, we offer courses in Hamburg and Berlin for your level.

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‫There's never a problem.

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‫There are always plenty of people for the intermediate classes.

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‫Oh, dear.

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‫Does that mean that there might be a lot of students in my class?

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‫I wouldn't be very happy about that.

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‫No, don't worry, Mr. Patterson.

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‫The maximum class size is 12, but I've never known there to be more than nine or ten in a class.

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‫It could even be five or six.

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‫Good.

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‫Actually, I'd prefer to study in Berlin and how long is the course, three weeks, five hours a day,

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‫two hours only on Saturday.

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‫Sundays free.

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‫I see.

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‫And what about accommodation?

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‫There you have a choice, Mr. Patterson.

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‫You can either stay with a German family who are used to having such guests or you can stay on the university

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‫campus or we can book you into a nearby bed and breakfast.

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‫Is there a big difference in price?

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‫Not really.

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‫Staying with the family works out the cheapest and the bed and breakfast is a bit more money.

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‫Staying on the university campus come somewhere between the two price wise, but Berlin is not too expensive

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‫anyway.

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‫Which do you recommend?

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‫Well, if you want to practice your German and be part of a German family, I would recommend staying

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‫with a family.

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‫Our families are all hand-picked and we've never had any sort of complaint.

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‫Yes, I'll probably do that.

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‫Then what are the dates of the course?

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‫The first summer course starts on the 1st of June in Hamburg and a week later in Berlin, which is what

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‫would concern you as you have chosen the Berlin course.

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‫That's the 8th of June.

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‫The next course would begin on the 2nd of July and then the second of July course would be perfect for

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‫me.

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‫Can you put me down for it now?

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‫Certainly.

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‫Mr. Patterson, can I have your address, please?

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‫26 Mayfield Drive, Orpington Kent.

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‫I'm afraid I can't remember the postal code.

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‫Don't worry, Mr. Patterson.

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‫I'll check on it.

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‫Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions, six to 10.

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‫Now listen and answer questions, six to 10.

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‫There are a couple of other things I'd like to ask, certainly what do I need to bring on the course?

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‫Well, apart from the obvious, you need textbooks.

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‫I'll email you the name and publisher.

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‫You should be able to find it in your local bookstore.

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‫If you do have problems, call me or email me and I'll see what I can do.

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‫We provide the computers, computer disks, translation exercises and all that sort of thing, but you

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‫will need a good dictionary.

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‫We recommend Lengen Scheidt, which is more than adequate for your level.

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‫You don't have to go and spend a lot of money on an expensive dictionary.

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‫Not yet anyway.

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‫Maybe you will when your German reaches a very high standard.

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‫That would be very nice.

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‫Now, finally, what about the cost of the course and how do I pay?

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‫Would you like to pay that in pounds or in euros?

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‫Euros would be fine.

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‫In that case, it's 550 euros.

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‫You can pay by credit card if you like.

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‫Oh dear.

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‫I'm afraid I haven't got a credit card.

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‫How else can I pay?

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‫That's not a problem, Mr. Patterson.

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‫You can pay by bank transfer.

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‫Fine.

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‫By the way, I forgot to mention I am a full time student.

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‫Have you got a student card?

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‫Oh yes.

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‫Then that does make a difference.

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‫You'll be pleased to hear you are entitled to 35 percent of the full price.

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‫And if you can persuade a few people to join you, it would work out even cheaper.

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‫How do you mean exactly?

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‫Well, for every five people you find, one goes free.

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‫In other words, if there are six of you, you get one free course.

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‫Of course, in reality, you would divide up the savings things amongst you, probably, right?

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‫Well, I'll see what I can do.

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‫Thank you.

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‫Not at all, Mr. Patterson.

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‫And I'm sure you'll enjoy the course.

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‫There are, of course, sightseeing possibilities.

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‫Would you like me to send you a brochure describing them?

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‫Yes.

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‫Thank you.

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‫I'd appreciate that.

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‫Anyway, thanks for your help, if I want to call back, who do I ask for?

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‫Susanna I'm here most of the time.

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‫That brings us to the end of Section one, you now have 30 seconds to check your answers.

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‫It's now time for S. to.

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‫Section two, you will hear a radio talk about agricultural regulations, but before that, you have

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‫some time to look over questions, 11 to 15.

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‫Now listen carefully and answer questions, 11 to 15.

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‫Could there be clearer proof of the arrogance and indifference of those who are supposed to keep our

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‫food safe than the muzzling of John Veral?

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‫Agriculture is a business true and businesses have to make money.

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‫But this shows how ministers and officials put the profits of the agriculture business before the well-being

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‫of the British people.

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‫Mr. Verrall, a pharmaceutical chemist, was appointed to represent consumers on one of the many committees

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‫that advise the government on food safety.

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‫When he tried to do his job, though, and wanted to warn ministers of a danger to children's health.

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‫He was refused permission to do so.

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‫The danger comes from hormones given to cattle in the USA and some other countries to make them grow

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‫faster.

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‫They speed up the animal's development to maturity, thus making meat production more profitable.

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‫There have, however, long been fears that the hormones have horrendous effects on the people who eat

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‫them, causing diseases as serious as cancer.

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‫Once these hormones were used on British cattle to.

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‫But over 20 years ago, they were banned in Europe for being too dangerous.

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‫Indeed, so concerned is the European Union that it banned imports of hormone fed beef years ago, much

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‫to the fury of the US government, which wants to sell it all over the world.

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‫Several years ago, the USA and Canada asked the World Trade Organization to declare the ban illegal

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‫and to punish Europe for failing to lift it.

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‫The WTO, with its long record of refusing to let environmental or safety concerns interfere with trade,

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‫agreed imposing fines of more than 120 million dollars a year on the EU for its refusal to back down

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‫the British government now backs the Americans, claiming that there is no proof that hormone fed beef

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‫does any harm.

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‫This is where Mr Verrall comes in.

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‫He is very angry with the government, especially as their claim comes out just after a Danish study

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‫shows that growth hormones are 200 times more dangerous than was previously thought.

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‫Worried by these findings, Mr Verrall spoke to government representatives who did nothing.

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‫Before you hear the rest of the radio talk, you have some time to look over questions, 16 to 20.

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‫Now listen and answer questions, 16 to 20, not only that, but they have not been testing beef, which

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‫is imported, which by law they are required to do this directly affects the British public, as about

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‫40 percent of the beef British people eat comes from abroad, supposedly from countries like Brazil,

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‫which does not allow the use of growth hormones.

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‫Brazilian beef is stocked by some British supermarkets and widely used in catering.

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‫Yet when a Brazilian farm was recently visited by EU inspectors, a large stockpile of this banned substance

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‫was found.

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‫This is not the first food scandal we have had in our country.

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‫Take the present concern over a well-known chocolate company.

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‫Several months ago, the company found out that its sweets were contaminated with a rare form of salmonella,

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‫but they did nothing about it, leaving their sweets in the shops to be bought by the unsuspecting public.

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‫It was not until finally, five months later, when several children had suffered food poisoning, that

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‫the chocolate bars were removed from the shelves.

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‫It makes you wonder how many other dangerous foods have been allowed onto our plates.

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‫That is the end of Section two, you now have half a minute to check your answers.

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‫That brings us to the end of part A of Alt's listening practice test to see if you're ready to move

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‫straight on to Part B for Sections three and four.