IELTS Recent Actual Test 5 Academic Listening Test 3

An unspoiled splendid scenery take its shape in the valley and estuary of river Treloar, abundant with wildlife as well as views of historic interest. There are lots of channels to explore the area with the wonderful public transport networks. With just short walks in between spots, it is possible for you to leave the car behind and travel by boat, train or bus.
There is Treloar Valley passenger ferry running between villages, alongside the river estuary and serves as a link with the train station at Barry, from which it takes only 10-minute walk from the riverside village of Carlton. In the past, the main transport way in the area was the river and as the past, the ferry timetable varied from day to day according to the time and height of the tide. The ferry is also seasonal, usually running its businesses during the period between April and September depending on the weather. Visiting our website, www.treloarferry.co.uk, it's convenient to download the timetable. If you would like to relax and enjoy the wonderful scenery, just take a river cruise to Carlton and back from the nearby City of Plymouth. Visitors were carried along the same route by steamships in the past. Queen Victoria and her family also enjoyed such trip in 1856.
Today, it takes you few hours during journey; the round trip only lasts for 4 to 5 hours, varying in terms of the tides and weather. You can travel up river by boat and return to Plymouth by train if you prefer. There will be wheelchair access on all the cruise boats and trains. For more information and departure times, please ring Plymouth boat cruise on 01752823104.
Trains travel between Carlton and Plymouth many times a day with different stations in between throughout the year. Local commuters as well as visitors who fancy the lovely scenery prefer to use the service. What highlighted the journey most is going across the river on the amazing viaduct which was constructed at the early period of the 20th century, and it towers 120 feet over the water. Tickets can be directly bought on the train so it is unnecessary to book ahead. You can reach National Rail Inquiries by phone or online for more details about fares and timetables. The bus service is now linking all train stations and villages in the zone, specially for holidaymakers. There is a rover ticket including unlimited journeys, which can be used on weekends and national holidays. The rover ticket offers great value for money and is now even cheaper than it was last year. For adults, a ticket costs 5.50 pounds per day, for senior citizens the cost is 4.50 pounds and a family ticket for up to 5 people only costs 12 pounds. You can purchase tickets on the bus.
At the centre of the Treloar estuary area is the historic riverside village of Carlton. The main road comes into the village from the south and for those who are riding by bus it turns left just before the bridge and stops in the lay-by on the left hand.
From there, it's just a short walk to Carlton's various attractions. If you are arriving by car you have to leave it in the main car park. Go over the bridge, take the first turning on the right, then go on until you come to the end of that road. It's the only place to park in Carlton but there's no charge.
If you're interested in local history, there is a museum in Carlton with farming, fishing and household implements from the late 19th century. As you come in from the south, cross the river and go straight on the same road until you reach the end. Also, on the subject of history you can go and see the old mill which is recently been renovated and put back into use. Turn left before you come to the bridge then go straight on and take the first turning on the right. This leads straight there.
If you're interested in arts and crafts there's a potter studio where you can watch the artist at work. After crossing the bridge, turn left and it's the second building on the left. Finally when you in need of refreshments, there's a cafe opposite the old boat house, and a picnic area near the mill.

Tutor: So I gave you both a task to select an article about a small-scale research project.
Both: Yes.
Tutor: And I required you to have a trial to replicate the procedures of the research in your own context, I mean, try it out yourself.
Jake: Yeah, and we've done that.
Tutor: Nice, in this way I want you to tell me a little bit about the article and explain why it started applying crosswords to assist the students to review the exam terminologies.
Lila: All right, the article was written by two university professors who had initially used crosswords to help the students revise the terminology for exams.
Jake: And the crosswords were designed and installed on computers.
Lila: And we selected the article because though we weren't familiar with the technique, it seems an accessible topic. You know, using IT to design crosswords for higher education.
Tutor: That's a good reason. So both of the professors would like to see how well this innovation was received by their students?
Both: Yes.
Tutor: So what has been going on with your reproducing the research?
Lila: Well, we collected a series of some terms from our own modules and put them in a list, then we designed a crossword to revise them.
Jake: Then we invited some of our classmates to try out our crossword and then ask for some feedback from them, you know, like their feelings, views, as well as some suggestions about using this technique.
Tutor: Did you find easy to have people participated in?
Jake: Not really. At first, you know, it was actually hard, but later when we convinced them by talking about the actual benefit that they will get from participating in this research on preparing for an exam which is coming up later this semester...
Lila: ...it functioned.
Tutor: Great, so how did you get the feedback from the students that tells you their thought about the crosswords?
Jake: By a questionnaire. There were two pages in the original questionnaire and it included lots of x-linked questions. But the whole section about difficulties using IT is now out of date. Even the questionnaire had just been finished a few years ago.
Tutor: So have you done a shorter version?
Lila: Sure, and then we emailed it to 40 students and received 28 replies. I was disappointed by the fact, but... this was a relatively good result, I mean the responses from we got were well-written, you know, people did take a lot of care on them, but I was still taken aback with the low numbers.
Tutor: Yes, for an apprentice researcher, it's an important lesson to learn.
Both: Yeah.
Tutor: So what was your result?
Jake: Well, basically their feedback was extremely positive. The students said that crosswords on a computer really helped them not to get distracted and stay focus on the work in hand, which is better than other ways of doing the revision that are often disturbed by other things.
Lila: Yeah, that was really clear. But I was struck by the fact that they hardly featured having fun in their responses. Nor did anything to do with spelling of hard words, which I thought would apparently be a benefit.
Tutor: No? Okay.
Lila: Their responses also said that the crosswords hadn't really prompted their general motivation to study, but it had highlighted the gaps in their memory so they can figure out what kind of work was necessary to do further.
Tutor: Right, so how did your findings cope with those done by the original researchers?
Jake: There were a couple of similarities but...
Lila: We still found two primary differences. Compared with females, more males liked the technique, yet the original findings were the reverse case.
Jake: Also, our respondents said they wouldn't mind doing a crossword in the final official exam, even in the original study, it showed that even if crossword makes exams shorter, they would not like it to be included.
Lila: But for informal purposes, of course, both sets of respondents said doing more crosswords would be a great interest to them, like revision or so.
Tutor: Right, so let's think about the whole project, and what you've learned from it?
Lila: Well. It really took a long time.
Jake: Yeah, and I don't think we handled that aspect well.
Lila: It could have gone worse. I mean there was not much data collected, so we didn't have to spend ages dealing with it, and since we'd already done a course on numerical data processing, so there wasn't much new for us.
Jake: Yeah, definitely. Anyway, I think our questions designed was good so that the data we collected was manageable.
Lila: Yeah. It really helped having the original study to guide us, as it were. And that helped us to see what a good research instrument is.
Jake: What questionnaire should be like.
Lila: Absolutely, we got a lot from that. But when we were writing up the project, I'm not sure whether we'll know how to acknowledge the work of the original study, you know, our referencing.
Jake: No, that's what we both need to learn in the future.
Lila: Actually, that part's been great, find ways to share and support another person.
Jake: That's the real plus from the project, learning ways to do that.
Tutor: Well, it's obviously been very successful.

Today, I would like to share something with you about time. Particularly, I'll be looking at the way we think about time, and how these perspectives of time structure our life. Social psychologists have pointed out that there are six ways of thinking about time, which they regard as personal time zones.
The first two types of time zones are based in the past. Past positive thinkers usually spend a major part of their time looking back to the past, which means they are in a state of nostalgia, where they fancy remembering moments of happiness such as birthdays, marriages and important success time in their lives. They are those who have the habit of keeping family records, books and photo albums. The kinds of people living in a past negative time zone are also absorbed by earlier times, but they concentrate on all the negative sides of a life picture such as regrets, failures or poor decisions. They spend plenty of time imagining what life could have been.
Then, it is those who live in the present. Present hedonists live their life in pleasure and immediate sensation. Their life motto should be having a good time and avoiding painful experiences. Present fatalists live in the present as well; however, they think this moment is the product of circumstances entirely beyond their control, but it is more a fate. Whether it's poverty, religion or society itself, something prohibits fatalists from thinking that they do perform a role in changing their life outcomes. Life is simply what it is.
How about the future time zone? People who are sorted into future active group are those who do plans and go for their plans. They don't play but work, and resist temptation. They make decisions in terms of potential consequences, rather than experience itself. The other type of future-oriented perspective is future fatalistic. This group of people holds a belief that there will be a certainty of life after death and certain kind of judgement day when they will be assessed on how virtuously they have had a life and what achievements they have had in their lives.
Okay, so much for all the types. You now may ask 'in what ways are our lives influenced by these time zones?' Well, let's start at the beginning. When we were born, no exceptions, everyone was a present hedonist. All the initial needs and demands like being warm, secure, fed and watered were all from that time. But formal education will change the way we think. Each one of us is taught to prevent focusing only on the moment and start to make estimates about the future. But you might be surprised, every nine seconds a child drops out of school in the US. More interestingly, there're much more boys dropping out than girls doing. We may easily draw a conclusion: 'boys aren't as intelligent as girls.' But the evidence doesn't support this. A recent survey indicates that when American boys reach the age of 21, they have spent roughly 10,000 hours on video games and also suggests that they'll never fit in the traditional classroom, because there is a stronger need for those boys to have a certain circumstance in which they are capable of managing their own learning environment.
Now, let's move on to how we do prevention education. All kinds of prevention education are usually targeted at the future time zone. We say 'don't smoke or you'll get cancer', 'get good grades or you won't get a good job.' But as for present-oriented kids, it doesn't make sense. Though they do know the potentially detrimental consequences of their actions, they insist on how they behave because they're not living for the future. They are in the present right now. Logics won't be helping and it's no use reminding them of potential fall-out from their decisions or previous judgement errors. We have to get in their minds just as they're about to make a choice.
How we value and use our time is greatly influenced by the time perspectives we have. When Americans come across a question about how busy they are, most of the interviewees usually report being busier than ever before. They admit to sacrificing their relationships, personal time and good sleep during nights for their careers. But 20 years ago, 60% of Americans had sit-down dinners with their families, yet now the number dropped to 20%. However, when they're asked what if there are 8 days in a week, they say 'Oh, that'll be fabulous'. They would spend that time working to achieve more. They're persistently trying to get to the future point of happiness.
So, it's of vital importance that we know how other people think about time. We tend to think: 'Oh, that person is really irresponsible,' or 'That guy is power hungry,' but often what we care about is not the fundamental personality differences, but only various approaches of thinking about time. Rather than distinctions of characteristics, seeing these conflicts as differences in time perspectives can promote more effective cooperation between people and get the most out of each person's individual strengths.