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Practice dictation & shadowing on the Cambridge IELTS 16 Academic Listening Part 3 Test 1.
Cambridge IELTS 16 Academic Listening Test 1 Part 3
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Speaker 1 (1)
How are you getting on with your art project, Tom?
Speaker 2 (2)
Okay. Like, they gave us the theme of birds to base our project on, and I'm not really all that interested in wildlife, but I'm starting to get into it.
Speaker 2 (3)
I've pretty well finished the introductory stage.
Speaker 1 (4)
So have I. When they gave us all those handouts with details of books and websites to look at, I was really put off.
Speaker 1 (5)
But the more I read, the more interested I got.
Speaker 2 (6)
Me too. I found I could research so many different aspects of birds in art - color, movement, texture.
Speaker 2 (7)
So I was looking forward to the bird park visit.
Speaker 1 (8)
What a letdown. It poured with rain and we hardly saw a single bird.
Speaker 1 (9)
Much less use than the trip to the Natural History Museum.
Speaker 2 (10)
Yeah. I liked all the stuff about evolution there.
Speaker 2 (11)
The workshop sessions with Dr Fletcher were good too, especially the brainstorming sessions.
Speaker 1 (12)
Uh, I missed those because I was ill.
Speaker 1 (13)
I wish we could have seen the projects last year's students did.
Speaker 2 (14)
Mhmm. I suppose they want us to do our own thing, not copy.
Speaker 1 (15)
Have you drafted your proposal yet?
Speaker 2 (16)
Yes. But I haven't handed it in. I need to amend some parts.
Speaker 2 (17)
I've realized the notes from my research are almost all just descriptions.
Speaker 2 (18)
I haven't actually evaluated anything, so I'll have to fix that.
Speaker 1 (19)
Oh, I didn't know we had to do that. I'll have to look at that too.
Speaker 1 (20)
Did you do a timeline for the project?
Speaker 2 (21)
Yes. And a mind map.
Speaker 1 (22)
Yeah, so did I. I quite enjoyed that.
Speaker 1 (23)
But it was hard having to explain the basis for my decisions in my action plan.
Speaker 2 (24)
What?
Speaker 1 (25)
You know, give a rationale.
Speaker 2 (26)
I didn't realize we had to do that. Okay, I can add it now.
Speaker 2 (27)
And I've done the video diary presentation and worked out what I want my outcome to be in the project.
Speaker 1 (28)
Someone told me it's best not to be too precise about your actual outcome at this stage, so you have more scope to explore your ideas later on.
Speaker 1 (29)
So I'm going to go back to my proposal to make it a bit more vague.
Speaker 2 (30)
Really? Okay. I'll change that too then.
Speaker 2 (31)
One part of the project I'm unsure about is where we choose some paintings of birds and say what they mean to us.
Speaker 2 (32)
Like, I chose a painting of a falcon by Landseer.
Speaker 2 (33)
I like it because the bird's standing there with his head turned to one side, but he seems to be staring straight at you.
Speaker 2 (34)
But I can't just say it's a bit scary, can I?
Speaker 1 (35)
You could talk about the possible danger suggested by the bird's look.
Speaker 2 (36)
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (37)
There's a picture of a fish hawk by Audubon I like.
Speaker 1 (38)
It's swooping over the water with a fish in its talons, and with great black wings which take up most of the picture.
Speaker 2 (39)
So you could discuss it in relation to predators and food chains?
Speaker 1 (40)
Well, actually, I think I'll concentrate on the impression of rapid motion it gives.
Speaker 2 (41)
Right.
Speaker 1 (42)
Do you know that picture of a kingfisher by Van Gogh?
Speaker 1 (43)
It's perching on a reed growing near a stream.
Speaker 2 (44)
Yes. It's got these beautiful blue and red and black shades.
Speaker 1 (45)
Mhmm. I've actually chosen it because I saw a real kingfisher once when I was little.
Speaker 1 (46)
I was out walking with my grandfather, and I've never forgotten it.
Speaker 2 (47)
Oh, so we can use a personal link?
Speaker 1 (48)
Sure.
Speaker 2 (49)
Okay. There's a portrait called William Wells.
Speaker 2 (50)
I can't remember the artist, but it's a middle-aged man who's just shot a bird.
Speaker 2 (51)
And his expression and the way he's holding the bird in his hand suggests he's not sure about what he's done.
Speaker 2 (52)
To me, it's about how ambiguous people are in the way they exploit the natural world.
Speaker 1 (53)
Interesting. There's Gauguin's picture Vairamati. He did it in Tahiti.
Speaker 1 (54)
It's a woman with a white bird behind her that is eating a lizard.
Speaker 1 (55)
And what I'm interested in is what idea this bird refers to.
Speaker 1 (56)
Apparently, it's a reference to the never-ending cycle of existence.
Speaker 2 (57)
Wow. I chose a portrait of a little boy, Giovanni de Medici.
Speaker 2 (58)
He's holding a tiny bird in one fist.
Speaker 2 (59)
I like the way he's holding it carefully so he doesn't hurt it.
Speaker 1 (60)
Oh, right.