IELTS Simulation Tests Academic Listening Test 10 (Online Test)

I'm sure you are all aware that babies, infants and children are exposed to an enormous number of potentially serious accidents all the time. Accidents where vehicles are involved are always awful but particularly so when children are injured. Now, of course, most should never happen but, unfortunately, the casualty lists increase every year. It still surprises me that so many youngsters fall from shopping carts, for example. With small children, however, the highest proportion of accidents will occur inside the house or in the back yard. Many of the risks are obvious, but are often ill-considered—even in well-organised homes. Older children are exposed to a greater number, for they are also open to the hazards of the adult world. This should be kept well in mind by parents.

Education is vital. There are some very good television shows which do the job quite well but children should be educated from the moment they learn to crawl and so I'd say the best teachers are parents who can instil safety habits in the responsive minds of their children by constant repetition. In this way, they will gradually learn to avoid the danger zones. Of course, if they go to pre-school, there'll be fewer hazards there but I'm going to cover a few of the important household areas now.

Firstly, kitchen hazards—the family kitchen is actually no place for a child although children may spend a lot of time there with their mothers. All I can say is: never leave saucepans on stoves with their handles jutting out—it's easy for little hands to seize hold of them and adults can even catch themselves on them too. Scalding is a serious issue for grown-ups and children alike.

If you are transporting dangerous items about the kitchen, always look to see where children are standing. Hot items are naturally high risk. Cooking with an infant at your feet can be very dangerous. Be careful with sharp and heavy objects as well. And not the least of dangers is treading on the child—or their hands or feet at any rate!

Let's move on to poisoning now. An amazing number of household items are potentially lethal to babies but are often carelessly left around. Bleach, drain cleaner and similar items should be kept out of reach of infants, who have no idea of their risks. And a word of warning here: never re-use juice bottles as containers for lethal fluids and never leave these items within access of infants.

Playground equipment deserves a mention, too—even in the most skilfully designed playground, accidents occur. We all enjoy the seesaws but do make sure that they are evenly balanced. Personally, I don't understand the attraction of the roundabout—it makes me feel sick to my stomach but the little ones enjoy the ride. Swings are great fun but children just don't understand the danger of a swing suddenly coming back and striking a standing child—the results are often big bruises or even broken bones. Fractured skulls are the worst playground injuries I've seen and these are common when young ones fall from a height such as the top of a climbing frame. I think the slides are much safer. Whatever your preference, though, be sure to keep a watchful eye on your children in the playground.

We're up to bath-time now...you know that you should never leave a baby alone in a bath because it's possible for babies to drown in a few centimetres of water; but how many of you have been tempted to go and grab the phone when it rings? My advice to you is to let it ring! And remember when you're filling the bath to put cold water in before the hot to prevent severe scalding in case baby climbs in before it's ready.

Moving on to electrical dangers...first of all, power points. These have a fascination for toddlers and they'll shove things into the holes like hairpins, nails, screwdrivers—you name it. Points should always be fitted with protective plugs to prevent this. Teach children to respect all electrical appliances—because they are all potential hazards.

Do I need to mention cigarettes? Unfortunately, I still see parents smoking in spaces where their children have to inhale the cigarette smoke—we all know the dangers of second-hand smoke...But even leaving a packet of cigarettes within reach is dangerous because eating just one cigarette may poison a small child. If quitting the habit is too difficult, please ensure all tobacco products are kept out of reach and smoke outside.

Lastly, given our cold winters, I need to warn you about heating systems. Open fires and heaters must be covered by protective devices. Even radiators and other sources of heat—which are attractive to children—can cause a nasty burn on sensitive young skin. Remember, there is never a good time to leave infants by themselves in a room where there is an unprotected source of heat.

PERRY: Hi, Opal. Any ideas about what we should do for our geography project?

OPAL: Hi, Perry. Yes, I'd like to do something on Wetlands.

PERRY: I think that's a great idea—where do we start?

OPAL: With a definition of course—something like: 'a marshy area of land where the soil near the surface is saturated or covered with water, forming a special habitat for wildlife'.

PERRY: And we could add: 'the flora and fauna of the area are reliant on the water-logged soil for their survival'.

OPAL: Yes, that's a major problem actually—when commercial developers or farmers come along and decide to drain the swamps—everything dies. The practice is all too common unfortunately. Did you know that, as a result, wetlands are recognised internationally as one of the most threatened types of habitat?

PERRY: That's right. We'll have to be sure to discuss their importance in our assignment.

OPAL: But, first; I think we should state some of the particular characteristics of wetlands.

PERRY: Well, there are three that I can think of. To start with: wetlands are limited areas of open water, which vary depending on seasonal fluctuations.

OPAL: Yes...and the second could be that there's usually a variety of water-tolerant flora on the banks and throughout the water.

PERRY: Of course, depending on the time of year, there may be more or less water but levels generally remain quite shallow.

OPAL: Okay...now let's move on to the importance of wetlands.

PERRY: Shall we start with plant and wildlife habitat?

OPAL: Yes, I think we should point out that wetlands are homes for countless species of water birds, frogs, invertebrates and fish...

PERRY: ...and they support many varieties of water-loving plants...

OPAL: which brings us naturally to the topic of biodiversity—even small wetlands act as borders between land and permanent water. They turn into refuge areas or sanctuaries in times of drought and they often support rare and threatened plants and animals found nowhere else.

PERRY: Exactly. And they're especially important as nurseries and breeding grounds for all kinds of fish, birds and invertebrates.

OPAL: Wetlands are important for improving the purity of the water, too.

PERRY: Yes, that's because the flow of water through the wetlands is slowed by bank and in-stream plants, and so it allows sediment to settle. Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous and other pollutants are removed as the water passes through.

OPAL: Okay, at this point I think we should look at mangroves...they're important for nutrient removal...

PERRY: I think 'nutrient recycling' is more accurate...and biological productivity...because wetlands are really very productive ecosystems.

OPAL: Should we do a food web, then?

PERRY: We should do a diagram of some sort showing the importance of mangrove trees but maybe not a food chain...

OPAL: How about you explain it while I try and sketch it?

PERRY: Right. Well, let's start with the mangrove trees. They're very special because of their aerial roots that allow them to breathe even when the tide is high and their roots are under water. They can live in salt water and the salt enters through the roots, travels up to the older leaves and then these die and drop back into the water. A unique feature of mangroves is their ability to develop leaves on their seeds while they're still on the tree and the seedlings drop down planting themselves directly into the mud underneath.

OPAL: Mmm, got that. What happens to those older leaves that fall?

PERRY: The fallen leaves, or litter, decay in the water and form a rich mud that feeds bacteria, worms and small crustaceans.

OPAL: You mean things like prawns and crabs feed on the decomposed leaves?

PERRY: Yes, and even little fish do as well.

OPAL: And bigger fish feed on them.

PERRY: Eventually the remaining organic matter—which is now just very tiny particles—is taken up through the root system providing nourishment for the mangrove trees.

OPAL: And the cycle begins all over again.

PERRY: Yes, that's exactly it, that's what we'll call it—the nutrient cycle of mangrove litter.

OPAL: Great. I'll go home and work on this and we'll meet again tomorrow.

PERRY: Okay, see you then.

Good morning. It's good to see so many of you taking an interest in meteorology. As you are all newcomers to the topic, let's keep it simple to start with. In fact, let's begin with a very simple definition of what meteorology is—the suffix '-ology' gives you a clue—at least you can all guess that it is 'the study of '...something. Meteorology is in fact the scientific study of all changes in the atmosphere—essential for forecasting the weather, of course. And you all know what weather is, right? The four main ingredients are...the sun, the atmosphere, water vapour and the wind. They all come together, disseminating heat from the sun around the globe and making clouds in the layer of the atmosphere directly above the ground which is called the troposphere. Look up into the sky and on almost any day of the year you'll see clouds.

Clouds form when water that has evaporated from the surface of the Earth condenses onto microscopic dust particles (or other particles) floating in the air. Cloud formation takes different shapes and they mostly get their names from Latin roots. Now, let's look at the five most basic. We'll start with Cumulus which is a low cloud with a white, puffy appearance and most often composed of water droplets. It gets its name from 'cumulo' meaning 'heap' for its typical 'piled-up' appearance.

Now, let's move on to Stratus (from 'strato' meaning 'layer')—these are the grey, horizontal ones (often with a flat base) that you see on an overcast day and they too are mostly made up of water droplets. At this point, I should mention Fog, which you probably don't even think of as clouds, but fog consists of very low stratus—ground-hugging clouds.

The high altitude Cirrus cloud, on the other hand is mostly made of ice crystals and appears wispy and thin—almost hair-like—in fact, that's where they get their name...from the word 'cirro' meaning 'wisp of hair'. They are generally fair-weather clouds.

Not so the Cumulonimbus—the tallest of all clouds—they extend way up into the troposphere and these are the ones that produce lightning, thunder, heavy rain, strong winds and tornadoes. Beware the Cumulonimbus! You already know what cumulo means and it won't surprise you to find out that 'nimbus' means 'rain' and, added as a suffix, is an indication of the cloud's ability to produce precipitation which could be rain, snow or hailstones.

As this course progresses, you'll learn a lot more about cloud types but before I finish today, I want to go back to something I mentioned before—dust. It is generally accepted that when water vapour ascends in the process of cloud formation it condenses onto dust particles. So, it was assumed, large dust particles would produce larger droplets and enhance the formation of rain. However, recent research has shown the opposite to be true. Droplet size increases the farther the clouds are from dust-filled air. More dust reaching rain clouds produces less rainfall. Scientists have shown that as more and more dust enters a rain cloud, the same amount of water becomes spread out. The resulting smaller water droplets scatter instead of combining and growing large enough to make up raindrops.

This study shows that higher dust frequency is not inevitably the result of diminished rainfall but rather its cause! Therefore, loss of topsoil from over-grazing, over-cultivation or bad livestock management in areas neighbouring desert will contribute to the continuing expansion of those arid regions.

Your assignment for this week will be to read up on this research and write a report on how dust from damaged land may exacerbate drought conditions and lead to further desertification of arid areas. In other words, how land use has an impact on climate change.