appendix c: listening tasks and texts
    listening task 1:
    listen to the following report of a sales manager and draw a sales line in the chart below.
    listening text 1:
    good morning, ladies and gentlemen! now, i'd like to report on this year's sales of computers by our company. at the start of the year i felt very optimistic for our company. i felt we had a good chance of having an excellent year. but sales were not quite as i expected.
    overall it wasn't a bad year for sales but our performance was very uneven. we had some good periods when sales were excellent and some bad periods when sales were much weaker. i am going to report on our overall sales. that is, i won't give sales separately for the domestic market here in china and our international sales to overseas countries. i'll just report on total sales.
    the first quarter was not very good. sales actually dropped during the first three months of the year. there was a big decline. in january, we sold a total of 500 computers but in march we only sold 100 computers. thus there was a big fall in sales during this period. the fall was abrupt—it took place over just three months. the problem here was our competitor—the johnson company. this company's prices were very competitive in the first quarter of the year—they were able to sell their computers at a much cheaper price than we could sell our own computers both overseas in the international market and at home in the domestic market. another problem we faced was that the interest rates we were paying on our loans from the bank were very high.
    however, by april our sales had stopped falling and sales were at the same level in the second quarter as in the first quarter. sales in june were the same as the sales for march—100 computers. this was not a very good performance but at least we had stopped the decline in sales.
    then in the third quarter there was an abrupt improvement. sales started to improve in july and by the end of september had reached the same level as january—we sold a total of 500 computers in september.
    in the fourth quarter we were able to maintain sales at the september level. in fact there was a gradual increase over this period, reaching a total of 550 computers in december. as you can see by the end of the year we had become much more competitive again. this is because we were able to lower the price of our computers whereas johnson company had actually increased theirs.
    so you can see this was a difficult year. but we ended with stronger sales than we expected and i am very optimistic for next year. i expect sales to go on increasing by and by.
    (total: 455 words)
    listening task 2:
    listen to the following dialogue and fill in the registration form below.
    conference registration form for student
    listening text 2:
    student: good morning!
    woman: good morning! can i help you?
    student: yes, please. is this where we register for the 5th international conference of language studies?
    woman: yes! what's your name?
    student: well... actually, i haven't registered yet. my friends told me the registration form is available here. and i just arrived this morning, so i hope i could get registered here.
    woman: well. we have advised everyone attending the conference that they should register beforehand. this is important so we know what accommodation they want. we need to know whether they want to stay at the conference centre or just attend daily. we also need to know whether they want lunch.
    student: oh, i'm sorry i didn't know about this. is it possible to register now? i won't need any accommodation at the conference centre.
    woman: are you a language studies student?
    student: yes, i am. my major is linguistics.
    woman: ok, then i guess we can register you alright.
    student: ah, that's great! thank you.
    woman: now, i'll need to take your details, so that i can fill in this form. so, can i have your full name?
    student: yes, sure. it's david li.
    woman: yes, d-a-v--id, david, and l-e-e, lee.
    student: no, it's l-i, li.
    woman: ok, l-i, li. and where do you live? what's your permanent address, david?
    student: i'm a student. i live in the university, so i don't have a long-term address. my address will change when i graduate. so i don't have a permanent address right now except the university.
    woman: ok, then. give me your current dormitory address, please.
    student: yes. my present address is room 426, dormitory building no.3, shenyang jianzhu university, shenyang.
    woman: room 426, dorm building no.3, shenyang jianzhu university. why is the name of the university “jianzhu”? what does it mean?
    student: jianzhu in chinese means “construction”. most students in my university study architecture.
    woman: really? so i guess there are a lot of beautiful buildings in your university.
    student: yes, indeed! and many of the buildings were actually designed by the students from the architecture department of my university.
    woman: wonderful! but you are not in that department. you said you were studying linguistics.
    student: yes, that's right. i am in the department of language studies. i am very interested in language and my university also specializes in this subject as well.
    woman: right! now, i need your student number to make sure that you're a student that is still at school.
    student: yes, sure. here it is. my student number is 24690685 ls.
    woman: 24690685 ls. now, the conference fee is$65, david.
    student: ok. here you are!
    woman: thank you, david. that's fine. now, i'm sorry but we have just run out of conference bags, but one will be available later if you want to come by the registration desk.
    student: okay.
    woman: the main lecture room is right down the hall there on your left. enjoy your time here with us!
    student: i'm sure i will! thank you very much. bye!
    woman: bye-bye!
    (total: 475 words)
    listening task 3:
    you will hear a man telephoning a sports center. fill in the customer form with what you hear.
    listening text 3:
    woman: good afternoon. ace sports center. can i help you?
    man: i hope so. we're members of the sports center, but i've just seen from the newspaper that the opening date has been delayed.
    woman: oh, er... could you give me your name, please?
    man: yes, my name is charles baker.
    woman: charles baker. and you are an individual member, sir?
    man: no. i'm not just speaking for myself. actually, i'm phoning on behalf of a group of us who have joined the center. i'm the human resources manager at rks company.
    woman: that's the letters r-k-s?
    man: yes, that's right. we've got twenty members who have joined your sports center.
    woman: were you given a membership number?
    man: yes, our membership number is 6-4-4-5-3.
    woman: 6-4-4-5-3. yes. i've got you here in my computer.
    man: but i need to know when we can start using your facilities. i am right, aren't i—these include the swimming pool, basketball court, and gym?
    woman: yes—we have all these facilities. we're so sorry about the delay, mr. baker. but we're arranging to show registered members around the center.
    man: oh, well that's good—we are all already registered. we gave our names and paid our membership fees three weeks ago.
    woman: okay, we'll arrange for all your members to tour the sports center this month and show you to basketball courts, swimming pool and gym.
    man: when would that be?
    woman: there is one tour on this thursday... could some of you come on thursday the 17th?
    man: that would be difficult, but next thursday the 24th would be ok with us.
    woman: er, what about the 25th?
    man: the 25th should be fine. but i shall have to speak to our individual members first.
    woman: please try to come in a group.
    man: i see.
    woman: is it ok if we start the tour at 6 pm?
    man: i'll have to check if that time is okay. then i will get back to you to confirm the date and time.
    woman: i am sorry for the delay in opening, and i'd like to offer you a reduction in the membership fee.
    man: do you mean you will offer a discount?
    woman: yes. i'd be happy to offer you a discount.
    man: do you have an exact amount in mind?
    woman: well, how about a fifteen percent reduction from the full fee?
    man: that seems very reasonable... thanks.
    woman: can i just confirm your number so i don't call the wrong telephone? is it 136-229-829-87?
    man: please use my direct line. it's 239-874-13. i'm always in my office during the day.
    woman: or maybe email?
    man: yes, that's better. it's info-at-cullers-dot-com.
    woman: at cullers?
    man: yes, c-u-l-l-e-r-s dot com.
    woman: very good. thank you, mr. baker.
    man: thanks.
    woman: once again, i'm sorry for the delay in our opening date.
    man: it's ok.
    woman: bye!
    man: bye!
    (453 words)
    listening task 4:
    you will hear a tv program. complete the table below with the information from the program.
    listening text 4:
    welcome to this week's program ofanimal world. today we will take a look at some different types of working dogs.
    for many years, dogs have been popular with people because they are extremely obedient to their owners. they will almost do anything their owners ask them to, so they can be trained to do a number of very valuable jobs.
    perhaps the most well known of working dogs is the sheep dog. sheep dogs are smart and obedient in nature. working together with their masters, they can herd sheep. they collect them together and then protect them by watching over them carefully. some farmers say that their dogs are so smart that they not only herd sheep together, they can count the sheep, too.
    another much-loved working dog is the guide dog, trained to work with the blind people. guide dogs, usually labradors, need to be well-trained enough to lead their owners through traffic and crowds, but they must also be of a gentle nature.
    another kind of common working dog is the german shepherd dog. german shepherd dogs make very excellent guard dogs and also serve as search and rescue dogs working in disaster areas after earthquakes. these dogs must be tough and brave so that they can cope with the harsh conditions of their work. they are used to working in such difficult conditions. they can be sent anyplace where there is a disaster to sniff out lives and help save them.
    many countries prohibit people from importing things like drugs, fresh fruit or meat. this is why you will find detector dogs in many airports. these dogs have great sense of smell and so are trained to sniff out drugs, fresh fruit, meat and even live animals hidden in people's bags. at sydney airport, for example, there are ten detector dogs working full time.
    another famous working dog is the husky. huskies, which came from siberia a long time ago, have been used for many years as a means of transport on snow, particularly in antarctica where they have played an important role. huskies are known for being able to live under harsh conditions such as places that are very cold or snowy, and they enjoy working in a team. but the huskies have all left antarctica now because the international antarctica treaty prohibits their use because they are not native animals in the region.
    working dogs can help people in so many ways; no wonder they have always been a close friend to us. ok, so much for theanimal worldthis week. thank you for watching, and i'll see you next week. bye!
    (439 words)