IELTS Simulation Tests Academic Listening Test 02 (Online Test)

Hello. I’m Jo(e) from Health Services and I’m pleased to be here talking to you today. You’ve come here today to learn more about gaining confidence and setting goals. How many of you are truly positive thinkers? Positive thinking is the key to confidence. It doesn't matter whether you are playing a sports match, facing an interview or preparing for an exam, if you apply positive thinking, you will gain confidence. This is the secret—positive thought patterns. Positivity leads to confidence which, in turn, will optimise your performance.

What is the one simple mental strategy that all confident people have in common? They concentrate on success. But don't they ever fail? Don't they make mistakes? What happens when things go wrong? The crucial difference is that they don't dwell on failure. Everybody makes mistakes—I mean, how else do we learn? Rather than giving up or becoming depressed, the best strategy is to register the mistake; note what went wrong; and determine what would have been a better way to act or what could have been done differently in order to achieve a more successful outcome. Then move on! Yes, erase the negative emotions; allow those memories of defeat, frustration or dissatisfaction to fade and move forward. Negativity erodes confidence. You need to put aside your disappointments and focus on successful outcomes.

Oh, it's not that easy. I can hear you saying. Well, no, it's not easy to forget failure but no-one ever fails completely so congratulate yourself on the areas where you did do well. Mentally replay the best bits—even if they're only a small part!

Now, there are two more things you need to do. Firstly, rehearsal—yes, you heard me—rehearsal. Surely only actors in a play need to rehearse their parts? No, the truth is, we all need to rehearse. This is a surefire way to build confidence. Before the match, the presentation, the exam or whatever, imagine yourself performing successfully in that particular situation. And here's the second tip—look confident. That will always give you an extra physiological advantage. So you can see that mind and body work together on this. You have to think and act positively.

Let's talk a bit more about how to look confident. If you have to overcome a challenge, get rid of that anxious expression and rigid posture, those downcast eyes and nervous gestures. Even if you don't feel very self-assured, you can still give the appearance of confidence. Stand tall, hold your head up, make full eye contact and keep an open expression—replace the frown with a smile if you can manage it. And those hunched shoulders? Relax those shoulder muscles. If you need to, take a deep breath and stretch to release pent up anxiety and tension. What if you have to make a difficult phone call, for example? Nobody can actually see you—so does it matter what you look like? Yes, it does. Practising positive body language will help you cross the threshold into a confident mood.

Before we move on to talk about goal setting, it may surprise you to know that, once you have set a goal in life, the brain responds with a burst of activity, which we experience as...?—that's right, happiness! And what happens when the goal is achieved? Yes, there is another burst of activity…and another feeling of happiness.

As you can see, the recipe for a happy life is to maintain a positive attitude and keep setting and achieving your goals. So, whatever your goal, whatever it is that you're aiming for—a new job, losing weight, giving up smoking, graduation— you need an appropriate (and by ‘appropriate’ I mean ‘achievable’ goal). That's the first step.

The next thing to consider is motivation. How do you get going? Well, it's more likely to motivate you if you think of the rewards of success rather than focus on failure, or what you might lose. So you need to establish your incentives. After that you'll have to work out the various stages and phases that you'll need to go through along the way and prepare for each one of them. If you're not naturally motivated, keep the targets small and achievable. But it really is important to ensure you collect the resources to accomplish the various steps. If you have performed that particular task before, you may already have the resources or at least know where to get them from. If not, ask someone who has already succeeded.

When you have got this far, the next stage is obvious—yes, you have to take the first step. That's not quite all there is to it though. The final thing to remember is to keep track of what you've accomplished; in other words, be sure to maintain a progress log. That way you can look back at your previous small successes and watch your progress along the way to achieving your goal.

BOB: Hi Julia.

JULIA: Hi Bob. Thought about the science project yet?

BOB: Which one? The presentations are scheduled for next month!

JULIA: The experiment that you and I are working on—to demonstrate density, buoyancy and the compression of gases.

BOB: That’ll be complicated.

JULIA: Well, it’s not supposed to be. It’ll be part of the ‘Making Science Simple’ series that’s being showcased next year. And we have to be ready to demonstrate by the end of next week.

BOB: Oh, well, …simple…you say.

JULIA: Yes, not just the concept but the materials too. We have to use cheap, readily available, common items—expensive lab equipment is out of the question!

BOB: I remember something about using recycled or throw-away items if possible…Anything portable that we can bring into the lab.

JULIA: That’s right.

BOB: Well, any ideas for the project?

JULIA: What about the classic Cartesian diver?

BOB: Is that the same as a Cartesian devil? The invention named after the famous French physicist—René Descartes?

JULIA: Yes, a long time ago superstitious people labelled it that because they couldn’t comprehend the scientific principles it demonstrated; they thought it was black magic.

BOB: How shall we do it?

JULIA: By keeping it as simple, transparent and economical as possible.

BOB: So, to start with…?

JULIA: Open your pencil case and let’s have a look. Mmm, you haven’t got any…

BOB: Any what?

JULIA: Paper clips.

BOB: Oh, there are lots of them in the bottom of my bag. They slip off my papers and collect in the bottom. Look, here’s half a dozen.

JULIA: But they’re all big metal ones—I want little ones—small, vinyl-covered multi-coloured ones.

BOB: Oh, I’ve got one or two of them too.

JULIA: Great. And…if we look around, especially on the floor, we’re bound to find a few more. See? Here.

BOB: What else do we need?

JULIA: A small rubber band.

BOB: Well, I’ve got one of those in my pocket.

JULIA: No, not that kind. Let’s go and ask Tara.

BOB: Why?

JULIA: Those really small coloured bands for making pony tails are ideal.

BOB: Hey, Tara?

TARA: Yes?

JULIA: Have you got any spare rubber bands like the ones you fasten your hair with?

TARA: Oh, heaps, a whole packet full—help yourselves.

BOB: Terrific. …So far it hasn’t cost us anything. What now?

JULIA: Let’s go and rummage through the recycling bins beside Joe’s Mini-market.

BOB: What for?

JULIA: We want a 2-litre plastic soft drink bottle with lid.

BOB: Hey, I draw the line at sorting through other people’s rubbish and we’re also not likely to find one with a lid.

JULIA: Well, go into the store and buy 2 litres of soft drink.

BOB: What flavour?

JULIA: It doesn’t matter what kind of drink you get, just make sure it comes in a clear P.E.T. bottle.

BOB: Where are you going?

JULIA: To the cafeteria behind the Resource Centre.

BOB: What for?

JULIA: I’m after some straws.

BOB: I can get them from the shop when I buy the drink.

JULIA: No, I’ve seen theirs. They’re the waxed paper ones. We need clear plastic and I know they’ve got them in the cafeteria. I’ll also see if I can get a tall plastic cup from there.

BOB: Good luck. Meet you back here in 5 minutes.

JULIA: Maybe longer because I want to go over to my locker and get a wire coat hanger.

BOB: Right. Have we got everything now?

JULIA: I think so. I’ve got extras of most things so don’t worry if this doesn’t work first time.

BOB: Okay. Assembly. Step 1.

JULIA: Take a straw and fold it in two. No, not like that—these plastic ones are quite hard to fold—try pinching it in the middle—that should make it easier to bend. You may even have to bite it but not too hard—you want a sharp crease but you don’t want to break it.

BOB: How’s this?

JULIA: Good; now, second step. Wrap a rubber band several times around the ends to hold them together.

BOB: Then?

JULIA: Add weight to the diver.

BOB: So, this straw is the diver?

JULIA: Yes. See how I’m pulling the outside end of a paper clip out a bit? Now, hook the part I bent out into the rubber band that’s holding the straw together. No, not that way—it’ll fall off. That’s right, turn it over. Now, hook two or three more paper clips on. It’s hard to say how many we’ll need. The idea is to get the diver to be almost all the way submerged, but not quite. We can put it in this tall cup of water to test it.

BOB: Mmm…What do you think? Too buoyant? Add another paper clip?

JULIA: I think so. Okay, onto the next step. Have you got the empty bottle?

BOB: Not quite.

JULIA: What do you mean?

BOB: Well, it’s not quite empty.

JULIA: Pour some into this cup for later. Good. Now fill the bottle with water all the way to the top and we’ll gently lower the diver in. Great—now put the cap back on.

BOB: And then?

JULIA: The final step is the demonstration of our experiment—you will see that when I squeeze the bottle, the diver…sinks and when I let it go, the diver…rises.

BOB: When you squeeze, the air bubble trapped in the straw compresses and the water rushes in making it heavier so it sinks. And the reverse happens when you release the bottle. What’s the coat hanger for?

JULIA: Oh, that? If our experiment didn’t work the first time and our diver stayed on the bottom, we’d have had to fish it out with a piece of wire or a hook of some kind. It’s best to be prepared.

Good morning, everyone. In these environmental science lectures I guess you’re all used to hearing about global warming—well, I’m here today to talk to you about one particular volcano and its effect of global cooling. I’ll begin by going back a little bit in time.

Towards the middle of 1991, the second largest volcanic eruption of last century occurred in the Philippines, not far from the capital city, Manila, on the island of Luzon.

Mount Pinatubo belongs to a chain of volcanoes in the area and this was by no means its first eruption. There is evidence of eruptions from approximately 500, 3,000 and 5,500 years ago.

The events of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption began in July 1990, when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred 100 kilometers northeast of the Pinatubo region. The sleeping giant was re-awakened but few people had any idea of what was in store for them. In mid-March 1991, many earthquakes were experienced around Mount Pinatubo and this is when volcano scientists (or vulcanologists as they are called) started their investigation of the mountain. Before the disaster, thousands of people lived in very close proximity to the mountain and, on April 2nd, small explosions from vents near the crater dusted their villages with ash. This resulted in the order for evacuations of 5,000 people later that month.

Earthquakes and explosions continued to harass the residents and, on June 5th, a Level 3 alert was issued for two weeks because of the possibility of a major eruption. However, the appearance of a large amount of lava protruding from the mountain on June 7th led to the announcement of a Level 5 alert on June 9th, indicating an eruption in progress. An evacuation area within 20 kilometers of the volcano was established and this time 25,000 people were evacuated.

On the following day, Clark Air Base was evacuated and the danger radius was extended to 30 kilometers from the volcano resulting in the total evacuation of 58,000 people.

On June 15th, just after midday, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo commenced and lasted for nine hours causing numerous major earthquakes due to the collapse of the land at the top of the mountain and the creation of a huge caldera. ‘What’s a caldera?’ I hear you say. Well, it’s obvious really—with a huge eruption such as this where enormous amounts of material have exploded into the air, the summit falls into what is now an empty chamber and thus forms a large crater.

As luck would have it, as the eruption was taking place, a tropical storm was passing just to the northeast of Mount Pinatubo, bringing a lot of rainfall to the area. The dust and cinders that had been thrown up into the atmosphere combined with the water vapor from the storm to cause a rainfall of tephra that fell across the whole island of Luzon. Most of the people who perished during the eruption did so because of the weight of the ash collapsing roofs and killing the occupants of the houses. If it hadn’t been for that passing storm, the death toll would certainly have been much lower.

But that’s not all, besides the ash, Mount Pinatubo expelled between 15 and 30 million tons of sulphur dioxide gas. Can you guess what happened next? Yes, the sulphur dioxide mixed with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to become sulphuric acid, which is a major contributor to ozone reduction.

The eruption plume from Mount Pinatubo reached high into the atmosphere, attaining an altitude of 34 kilometres and the resulting aerosol cloud spread around the earth in two weeks and had covered the planet within a year. During the years 1992 and 1993, the ozone hole situated over Antarctica reached an unprecedented size.

The cooling effects of this cloud over the earth were remarkable. It reduced global temperatures considerably. In the United States, for example, we experienced our third coldest and third wettest summer in 77 years during 1992.