Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS Academic Listening Test 3 (Online Test)

Good morning everyone. I hope you're all feeling OK after the activities of the last week or so. I know you've all been working very hard recently and we've been exceptionally busy, especially with the wedding last weekend and the trade fair straight after that. And now we have only three days to prepare for the birthday party this weekend. The events recently have gone extremely well and the hotel is beginning to get a very good reputation, so we need to keep it up. At the moment, we don't have exact numbers of guests and though we usually only cater for groups of less than fifty, we will have quite a few more than that. So – as I said – not sure of numbers but of course we won't go over the maximum of 100. But it's likely that we will need all of you to work this weekend so if any of you can't, please let me know as soon as possible.

Right – so what time will the event start? Well the invitation says guests should arrive between 7.30 and 7.45 but our experience is that there are always a few who like to arrive early so we'll expect the first people at 7.15. As the numbers are quite large, this will certainly be the case. Food will be served at around 8.30 and then, depending on how long the meal takes, the entertainment will start about two hours later. Now, for this, we were expecting a live band for the occasion which is always fun, but apparently this has been cancelled due to illness. So – the hosts know someone who is a comedian who will be replacing the band. We had hoped that the resident magician who worked here through the summer would be able to help out but they weren't keen on that idea.

[pause]

So I'd just like to go through who's doing what when the guests arrive and I think we'll make a few changes from the last party held here. If I remember correctly, it was Olav who co-ordinated the task of providing the guests with drinks or was it Ahmed? (checking) Um, I'm not sure – but Gary asked to do it this time – so that will be his job. There's been no decision yet on what the drinks are going to be but I hope they decide soon in case we need to order something special. Now – for receiving the guests' coats and hats, it's important we have someone experienced doing this as we don't want guests losing their belongings. And Monica, last time this was your responsibility. Susan, I know you wanted to do this but as the numbers are quite high for this event I won't make a change here. Right – now last time there was some confusion as to where guests were supposed to go once they had deposited their things and we had guests roaming around the whole hotel. So Ahmed and Olav – I believe you discussed the problems with Susan and thought she would be good at guiding guests after they had arrived – and I'm fine with that.

Right – and now for some general instructions. Once the guests have arrived they will be in and around the lounge area and then at around 8.30 we need to get them to move to the restaurant for their meal. This often proves difficult and can take a long time so I will ring a bell so that everyone knows it's time to eat! Hopefully this will speed things up a bit. Also – for this event there'll be a seating plan, so the guests won't be able to decide for themselves where to sit – they'll have to sit according to the plan. There'll be a plan on each table and I've been thinking about where to put the master plan so everyone can view it before they enter the restaurant. As they'll be spending quite a while in the lounge, I've decided to also put a plan there. This should speed up the start of the meal.

Once the meal starts, you'll all be very busy waiting on the tables and I'm sure I don't need to tell you to be good-humoured and polite to all the guests. The organiser of the event will be saying a few words and so will two of his colleagues. So when the speeches start all activity must stop in the restaurant so that the three people giving them can be heard. This shouldn't take long – and it should be towards the end of the meal. After that, the guests will move back to the lounge for the entertainment.

So – I think that's it. Any questions – come and see me later.

Alan: Hi Melanie – what did you think of the assignment that we got today? It looks interesting, doesn't it?

Melanie: Yes Alan, I've always been interested in recycling but there's a lot of research to do.

Alan: Yes – there are a lot of things I'm unsure of so it's going to be good working with you.

Melanie: OK – well why don't we start by making a flowchart from the notes our tutor gave us?

Alan: Yes, um, so ... on one side we could have the paper production cycle – here on the left – and on the other side the recycling.

Melanie: Good idea. Let's start at the top with the production. The first step in the process is to get the raw materials.

Alan: Yes – and they tend to come from pine forests.

Melanie: OK – and then the bark is removed from the outside of the tree and after that the wood is chopped up – that's the first three stages.

Alan: It sounds a bit complicated after that. Um, it says water is added and then the mixture is heated and made into pulp. This will be the thick paste that is used to make paper.

Melanie: Yes – you're right because after that they use a machine to make the paper and we can put that right in the centre of the flow-chart because it's also where the recycled paper joins the process.

Alan: Yes. So once the paper has been produced in the machine, what happens then?

Melanie: Well, I think we should write 'print' as the next step because this is when newspapers, magazines, etc. are produced. And we could also add that they have to be distributed to stores and people's homes.

Alan: Right, then the recycling bit starts. The old paper's collected and then it says it's taken somewhere so that someone or something can sort it. I imagine there are different kinds of paper – or things like paper clips that need to be removed.

Melanie: Yes. Let's have a step after that. Now, how did our tutor say they do this? Oh yes – it involves chemicals, so – how is your chemistry?

Alan: Well – not very good I'm afraid. But this is how they remove ink so – this is definitely going to need a bit of research.

Melanie: Right – the last step in the recycling section is similar to the last step in the production process with heating and pulping – before the cycle begins again.

[pause]

Alan: So I think going through the processes helped. Now we need to decide how we're going to do this assignment.

Melanie: Yes. I guess what we need to do is take the processes and divide them up between us. But we could start thinking about an introduction.

Alan: Yes, OK ... well I can start doing that. I think I have enough to go on already.

Melanie: Good. And there are a few areas where we need a lot more information. I think I'll start with something easy – let's say the paper collection. I could go to the resource centre to do some research.

Alan: Well I think a better idea would be to approach someone who's involved in the process. What about contacting the council?

Melanie: Oh – good idea. Yes – I'll do that instead. They're bound to have some information. And I know just the thing to add to our work to make it even more interesting.

Alan: And what's that?

Melanie: Well – in my last assignment, I added a few pictures and the feedback I got was that this wasn't 'academic' enough. So what might really bring it to life would be to include some data – provided we can find some.

Alan: Yes – that sounds excellent. Well – we certainly have a lot to do and not much time to do it in.

Melanie: You're right. I think we have about five weeks so I suggest we create a plan of work today. The end of the month is nearly three weeks away and then we have a few days' holiday.

Alan: Yes – so let's see if we can get the first draft done by then so we can take a short break.

Melanie: OK – then after the break we'll have just over a week to complete it. I wonder if we could get someone to review our work for us a few days before the deadline so we can make some final changes. What about your friend Henry?

Alan: Well – the best person would be our tutor. Henry's very good but he's taking a whole week's holiday and there won't be enough time when he returns.

Melanie: OK, then. That's fine.

Good morning and welcome to this lecture on hair which is a part of the human biology course. This lecture covers a number of facts about hair – its structure and what can affect the general health of hair.

So, first of all, what is hair and why do we have it? If we look back at our ancestors, we'll see that they had a lot more hair on their bodies than we do now. And there are – or were – two main reasons for having hair. One is to provide warmth ... but as humans have worn clothes for many years, body hair has significantly reduced. The other is for protection – and again this isn't as significant as it was once, but hair does still benefit areas of the body such as the head and around the eyes.

Now hair, whatever it is for and wherever it is on the human body, is composed mainly of a protein called keratin. This, by the way, is also found in fingernails. In fact, it's keratin which makes them flexible and without it they would be very rigid. Another interesting fact about hair is that it is very strong – as strong as iron in fact. One single strand can support a weight of up to 100 grams. This may not sound all that much, but a full head of hair can support up to 12 tonnes, which is the equivalent of a couple of elephants, which is simply amazing – though I advise you not to put this to the test!

Humans lose up to 100 strands of hair a day, but we do have quite a lot of hair to start with. There's some variation depending on hair colour but for an average adult the strand count is 100,000, so losing 100 a day is not too bad. Although this is the average, people with red hair have around 80,000 strands, black or brown hair 100,000 and blondes have about 120,000.

So hair used to be important for the reasons I mentioned earlier but nowadays I'd say the main importance of hair is the fact that it is big business. Apart from the money involved in haircutting, shaving, trimming, etc., a fortune is spent just on hair products. In the UK alone, consumers spend over five billion pounds each year on these.

[pause]

So next, I'd like to just give you a quick overview of the structure of hair. As you can see, along the length of the hair, there are three main parts called the bulb, the root and the shaft. A single hair is fixed at one end below the skin in the bulb. The bulb acts rather like a cap – it encloses the end of the hair in the head. The next part of the hair is the root and this is the part of the hair which lies just beneath the skin and, in terms of hair production, is the most important. This can be considered the control centre for each strand of hair and is where the glands are found. These produce oil which flows along the length of the hair and the health of the root determines the overall health of the strand of hair. The last part is the shaft and this is the hair which is above the skin and is, of course, what we can see. Fortunately, this is not active and I say 'fortunately' because otherwise it would be very painful to have your hair cut!

And finally I'd just like to go over a few factors that impact on the overall health of hair. Like every other part of the body, our diet – that is what we eat – is extremely important to the condition of our hair. But whereas a change in your diet to, for example, eating unhealthy foods will soon be noticeable in your skin, changes to your hair will take a lot longer. A change in diet today could take several months to have an effect on your hair. And so – what is the key to healthy hair? Well – eating a balanced diet is the most important thing. There are a number of vitamins that are vital for good hair health, the main ones being vitamins C, D and E, and in a balanced diet all these vitamins should be readily available. If you need a boost of vitamin C, for example, one of the best things to eat are blueberries. For Vitamin D, the best examples are fish, mushrooms and eggs and for vitamin E, nuts and seeds.

Right so let's go on to ...