Expert on Cambridge IELTS 10 Academic Listening Test 5 (Online Test)

Hello and welcome to Lifestyle Today, in this programme we will be looking at ways of living a healthier life. Many experts believe that including some of the elements we will discuss today into your lifestyle can actually also lead to a longer life.

We'll start with the more familiar aspects of healthy living; these being diet and exercise. For some time now, experts have been advising us that incorporation of a Mediterranean-style diet into our eating habits can bring enormous benefits. Research studies report, that those following such diets are 25% less likely to die at a young age - many of the advantages being attributed to the properties of olive oil. Red wine drunk in moderation can also allow the body to detoxify and protect the heart in particular, due to the high levels of anti-oxidants it contains.

Regarding exercise, many of us find it difficult to set time aside for visits to the gym or an exercise class; however, it is important not to under-estimate the contribution that walking can make to our health. More people nowadays are buying a pedometer, which can count their steps as they go about their day to day business. Health experts say that we should aim to take 10,000 steps everyday. This can be achieved more easily than you think, using stairs instead of lifts, walking to a bus stop further away than the one you may usually use if you travel to work by bus, and ditching the car altogether for shorter trips. Any type of exercise is beneficial; however, yoga in particular is thought to make a number of valuable contributions to health. It has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and protect the body from disease.

Also remember that it is not just important to exercise your body, but also your mind. Like any muscle or body part, it becomes more robust through exercise and stimulation. Playing chess, reading books or completing puzzles challenge our mind and keep it active and healthy. Use it or lose it, some might say.

The type of lifestyle we lead also impacts enormously on our health. Getting enough sleep is vital and getting too little can result in us becoming stressed, irritable and can even speed up the aging process. What is 'enough' varies from person to person; however, somewhere between 6 and 8 hours per night is a good benchmark. Our bodies are given a chance to recuperate during sleep and it improves our concentration, appearance and boosts the immune system. More recent studies suggest that appropriate quantities of sleep can also help us burn calories and maintain a healthy weight.

Being happy during our waking hours is also important; laughter is the body's natural way of reducing stress and it also improves blood circulation. A research conducted in the Netherlands indicates that there are close links between having a positive attitude and health. According to the study, optimists are 55% less likely to die of one of the most significant killer diseases of our time, such as heart disease, that someone with a negative attitude. In order to maintain happiness, it is also important to be able to leave work in the workplace, employment-related stress is on the increase and is not only detrimental to health, but can also have a knock-on effect on our personal relationships, which can lead to a spiralling situation of unhappiness and high anxiety levels.

Human beings are naturally social animals and having someone close to share our lives with also contributes to good health. Research studies suggest that being married increases a person's life expectancy; however, getting divorced can have the opposite effect, almost certainly due to the high levels of stress that are normally involved in the ending of a relationship. Pet ownership, dogs in particular, has also been observed to lower blood pressure and fight off depression.

Finally, recent studies from the UK revealed that people living in rural areas, on average, live 6 years longer than urban dwellers; these findings are likely to be due to the fact that air is cleaner and those living in the countryside tend to have more active lifestyles. There are enormous benefits to spend time outdoors in the fresh air. Although over-exposure to sun can be dangerous, provided we protect ourselves from UV rays with sunscreen, sunshine is extremely beneficial as it allows the body to metabolise vitamin D which contributes to bone strength.

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for listening. After the break we will be opening our phone lines to hear what you think about our suggestions and to find out what ideas our listeners have for leading a more healthy life.

Tutor: Hello you two, have a seat... OK? So, you're going to tell me about the presentation you're preparing for next week's marketing seminar, right?

Jack: That's right. We've drafted this plan for you to look at.

Tutor: OK, thanks. Perhaps you could just talk me through it, could you? Sarah, do you want to begin?

Sarah: Yes. Well, we're going to compare the websites of two bicycle companies...

Tutor: Right... And they're called Hills Cycles and Wheels Unlimited?

Sarah: Yes. And first of all, we've compared the content of each site, and the presentation. Then we've done an evaluation of each one.

Tutor: OK... And did you find much difference between the two websites? Jack?

Jack: Quite a bit, yes. Wheels Unlimited has a lot more pages, for a start... Both companies show their catalogue - I mean pictures of different models of bike, with specifications.

Tutor: And prices?

Jack: Yes, they're there too, although they list them in different ways - Hills Cycles have got them next to the pictures and Wheels Unlimited show them on a separate page.

Sarah: But Wheels Unlimited advertises lots of other products connected with bikes - like helmets, and clothing, and tools.

Jack: Yes, all kinds of things.

Tutor: And Hills Cycles?

Sarah: No. They only show the bikes themselves.

Tutor: OK. Well... is there anything on the Hills Cycles website that Wheels Unlimited doesn't have?

Jack: Not really.

Sarah: Yes there is - it's got a little photo of the original shop, and a paragraph about the history of the company - it's family owned.

Jack: Oh yes, I forgot about that.

Tutor: Right... That's the content then. And you compared the functions of the two websites, did you?

Jack: Yes. Hills Cycles doesn't have any facility for online ordering. You have to ring up to order something. That's the only way you can do it.

Sarah: Well no, you can send off for a paper catalogue with an order form.

Jack: Oh yes, I suppose so. But with Wheels Unlimited you can order online or in the conventional ways.

Sarah: That's right.

Tutor: Fine, OK. And what about the presentation? Did you find any particular differences there? Or similarities? What about visuals?

Jack: As I said, both the sites have got pictures, and they're both quite attractive, but Wheels Unlimited hasn't got any moving graphics.

Sarah: Yes. Hills Cycles has got an animated cartoon at the top of the Home Page.

Tutor: Right. Well, it looks as if you've got plenty to talk about.

Sarah: There are other things too, but those are the main things we noticed.

Tutor: OK, well you'd better stick to the most obvious differences, because you've only got ten minutes for the whole presentation, haven't you? And you said you're going to evaluate each site as well, didn't you? How are you going to do that? I mean what criteria will you use?

Sarah: We thought we'd use three criteria: how attractive each website is, how user friendly it is, and how closely it targets its potential customers. Do you think that's OK?

Tutor: Sounds fine. But I'd look at the criteria in a different order if I were you. Because really you've got to look at attractiveness and user-friendliness in relation to the people the website is aiming at. So, I'd deal with that criterion first if I were you.

Sarah: Right.

Tutor: What about the timing? Have you thought of that? Ten minutes is very short you know.

Jack: Yes. We tried it out.

Sarah: Several times!

Jack: And we've decided to spend four minutes comparing the two sites, then three minutes evaluating them, and leave three minutes for questions. That's not really enough, but...

Tutor: Well it sounds about right to me. You've got ten minutes altogether and you have got to stick to that limit. It's good practice, and at least the audience won't have time to get bored! What visuals are you going to use?

Jack: We're going to use Powerpoint and a flip chart as well.

Sarah: So we can show two things at once. For example, we're going to start by showing the Home Pages of each website, and we're going to put up a list of key features on the flip chart at the same time.

Tutor: OK. And it's a joint presentation, so have you decided how you're going to share the work?

Jack: Yes. First we thought we'd keep taking it in turns to speak - Sarah would say a bit, then I'd take over, and so on. Then we thought we'd just divide it into two equal parts and do one part each. But it was all too complicated. So Sarah's going to do all the talking, and I'm going to manage the visuals. And hope we can coordinate properly!

Sarah: It's the only way we can fit everything in.

Tutor: Well, good. You've obviously worked hard and you've been very careful with the details. Only one thing I would say: make sure that you keep your visuals simple. I mean, if you're showing a list of key features, for example, you should make it as brief as possible. Just use bullet points and simple phrases, even single words. Your audience won't have much reading time. It's a classic mistake with seminar presentations to present so much information that the audience can't process it quickly enough, and they stop listening to what you're saying. OK?

Jack: Yes. Right. OK.

Tutor: And now let's talk about...

Today, I am going to give you some information on the little known atoll - St Lawrence Island - which is situated west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea. Although it is politically classified as belonging to Alaska and therefore the U.S.A., St Lawrence Island is geographically closer to Russia than it is to the Alaskan mainland. It is in fact situated just under 70kms from Siberia and over 160 kilometres from Alaska. It is thought to be one of the last remaining portions of land mass above sea level that once joined Asia with the North American continent.

To the south of the island is a permanent "polynya" which is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. A polynya such as this is formed due to the action of winds and ocean currents which force frozen water away from the coastline. As new ice forms in the open water area, the wind and currents push the new ice downwind to the existing ice formation. The term "polynya" refers to the open area of unfrozen sea and not the ice itself.

The island and its surrounding area is home to a high number of seabirds and marine animals. This is thought to be due to the influence of the "Anadyr" current which is an ocean current that brings cold but nutrient-rich water from the deep waters of the Bering Sea.

There are many lakes and small streams, though no trees growing on St Lawrence Island and the only woody plant species in existence there is the Arctic Willow which grows no taller than 30 centimetres in height. Although the central part of the island is mountainous, the majority of the landscape is flat tundra; many parts of this turning into swampy land in summer which is difficult to cross.

St Lawrence Island is thought to have been first occupied around 2500 years ago; this settlement has been dated due to archeological investigation of the area and the findings of Okvik (early Eskimo) artifacts and statues. It is thought, however, that early occupation of the island was never permanent and that in fact populations would leave and return as governed by the availability of resources and food and seasonal weather patterns.

The island is the first area of Alaska known to have been visited by European explorers, the first of whom was Vitus Bering who was of Russian and Danish decent. He first visited the island on St Lawrence's Day, August 10th 1728, hence its name. Prior to Bering's visit, the island was known as Sivuqaq by the Yupik people who are native people of the central Alaskan region.

In the mid 1800s there were around 4,000 Yupik people living in several villages on St Lawrence Island. These days there are around 1200 people living there. The significant drop in population size occurred between 1878 and 1880 when extreme famine hit the island causing many to die of starvation and forcing many others to leave and relocate to different parts of Alaska.

It is mainly Yupik people who live there still and their main pursuits are hunting, fishing and reindeer herding. In 1900, reindeer were introduced to the island with the intention of developing larger scale farming to enhance the island's economy. By 1917, there were 10,000 of the animals on St. Lawrence, but numbers today are significantly reduced. Reindeers are now as source of subsistence meat to sustain the island's population and are not farmed for commercial or export purposes.

The island's people are also renowned for their carving expertise, most of their carvings and statues being made from walrus ivory and whalebone. Today, only two significant villages still exist on the island, which are Gambell and Savoonga.

From 1952 to 1972 a multi-functional US Airforce station was operated from the North East Cape of St Lawrence Island. After its closure in the 1970s, it was observed that a seemingly large proportion of local families began to experience health problems. Some experts believe that these illnesses were linked to high levels of chemical contamination from the site; the effects of pollutants being intensified by the cold Arctic air. Whilst links have not been confirmed, in 2003, the majority of the facility was completely removed in a cleanup project. The site continues to be monitored, as do unusual incidences of ill health in the local population.