Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS Academic Listening Test 8 (Online Test)

Hello. As some of you know, I'm Elaine Marriott, the head of the college's Learning Resource Centre. We've invited all of you taking evening classes and leisure activities to come and see the changes we've made to the Centre in the last month.

One major change we've made here on the ground floor is to the layout - as you can see from looking around you. I'm sure you'll recognise the desk - that's still in the same place, as it has to be just inside the door. But you'll see that there are now periodicals on the shelves in the corner behind the desk. We've brought them nearer the entrance because so many people like to come in just to read magazines. We now stock a far wider range of periodicals than we used to, so we've decided to separate them from newspapers. This means the newspapers are now just the other side of the stairs, near the study area.

Now, another thing is that we've brought the computers downstairs - people used to complain about having to go upstairs to use them. So they're now at the far side of the building on the right, in the corner overlooking the car park.

We've now got an extra photocopier, so as well as the one upstairs, there's one down here. You can see it right opposite the entrance, by the wall on the far side.

The biggest change, though, and one I'm sure many of you will welcome, is that we now have a café at last - we've been asking for one for years. If you turn right as soon as you get past the desk, you'll see the door ahead of you. It became possible to have a café because the building has been extended, and we've now got a new office and storeroom area.

What else should I tell you about before we walk round? Oh yes, we've had so many requests for books on sport that we've bought a lot more, and they're all together immediately to the right of the entrance.

OK, that's enough on the new layout. We'll walk round in a moment, but before we do, something about the people who are here to help you. Of course all the staff will do their best to answer your questions, but now we're each going to specialise in certain areas. So if you ask a staff member about something, and they don't think they can help you enough, they'll direct you to our specialist.

Jenny Reed is the person to see if there are any films you'd like us to stock, as she's taken over responsibility for purchasing those. I'd better warn you that our budget is limited, so I'm afraid we can't promise to buy everything you ask for!

Phil Penshurst can help you to improve your writing if you need to produce reports for your course. You can book a half-hour session with Phil to start with, then if you want more help, he'll arrange follow-up sessions with you.

I must mention Tom Salisbury. Many people are interested in doing research or just reading about this region - the people, occupations, changes over the years, and so on. Tom is a specialist in this particular field, so if you want any help, he can point you in the right direction - we've got a large collection of relevant documents, from old maps to studies of the wildlife.

We have a new member of staff, Saeed Aktar. I'm sure you'll meet him soon, and will find him very helpful. If you're unemployed and want some advice on the practical aspects of looking for a job, Saeed is the person to talk to. He's also written a very useful book on the subject, which of course we've got on our shelves!

Many of you will know Shilpa Desai, who's been working here for about five years. Shilpa now has the additional responsibility of giving information and advice on anything to do with housing, such as finding out what's available, or whether you're eligible for financial help.

Right, well that's quite enough from me, so let's walk round the library.

Tutor: Right Stewart, well I've read your draft report on your work placement at the Central Museum Association. Sounds as if you had an interesting time. So you ended up making a film for them?

Stewart: Yeah. It was a film to train the employees in different museums in the techniques they should use for labelling ancient objects without damaging them. Some of them are really fragile.

Tutor: OK. So in your report you go through the main stages in making the film. Let's discuss that in a little more detail. You had to find a location - somewhere to shoot the film.

Stewart: That took quite a few days, because I had to look at different museums all over the country, but I'd allowed time for it. And even though it was the middle of winter, there wasn't any snow, so I didn't have any transport problems.

Tutor: Right. Did you have to decide what equipment you'd need for the filming?

Stewart: Yes. I think they were quite surprised at how well I managed that. It was just the luck of the draw actually, I'd done that project with you last year.

Tutor: Oh, on recording technology? So you knew a bit about it from that, right.

Stewart: Yeah. What I found really hard was actually writing the script. I had a deadline for that but the Association had to extend it. I couldn't have done it otherwise.

Tutor: Would it have helped if you'd had some training there?

Stewart: I think you're right, I probably needed that, yeah.

Tutor: Right. Now from your draft report it sounds as if you had one or two problems deciding who was going to actually appear in the video.

Stewart: The casting? Yeah. I'd expected that the people who worked for the Association would be really keen on taking part ...

Tutor: But they weren't?

Stewart: The thing was, they were all so busy. And it did mean some of them had to travel. But Janice King, who I was reporting to for the project, she was great. She arranged for people to have time off and for their work to be covered. So that was a big help for me.

Tutor: Right. And it sounds like the filming itself went well. I gather you found a company who provided an online introduction to the techniques.

Stewart: Yeah. It was really informative, and very user-friendly. I learned a lot from it.

Tutor: And then the editing?

Stewart: For that, the Association put me in touch with someone who works for one of the big movie companies and I went down to the studio and sat with him in front of his computer for a day, learning how to cut and paste, and deal with the soundtrack and so on.

Tutor: So was that all?

Stewart: No, I didn't include this in my draft report but I had to design the cover for the DVD as well... the lettering and everything.

Tutor: Have you done any of that sort of design work before?

Stewart: No, but I did a rough draft and then talked it through with a couple of my mates and they gave me some more ideas, and when I'd finished it, I showed it to the people who worked at the Association and they really liked it.

Tutor: Excellent.

Tutor: Now as well as your own draft report, I've also received some written evaluation from the Association on the work you did during your placement, and how it was of benefit to them. I noticed that you haven't included anything on that in your report yet.

Stewart: How my project benefited the Association, you mean? So do I have to include that?

Tutor: Yes.

Stewart: Well, let's think... I suppose if I hadn't made the film for them, they'd have had to get an outside company to do it. But because I was actually working for the Association, I'd got much more of a feeling for what their aims are. Things like their responsibility for the conservation of the exhibits. I don't think an outside company would have had that understanding, they'd have been more detached.

Tutor: Right. And the Association also said that because of your background, you had a good idea of where to go to get the best deal for the equipment you needed. They said the saving in expense made it worthwhile even though sourcing it took quite a bit of time.

Stewart: Yes, that's true.

Tutor: The Association also said making the film had a very positive effect in getting staff to work together more closely.

Stewart: Oh. I hadn't heard that. That's good. And certainly, people weren't afraid to tell me what they thought about it as I was making it, so I was able to get lots of feedback at every stage. That was useful for me but it also meant the final product worked better for them.

Tutor: Can you think of any other benefits?

Stewart: Well, I don't think they'd really thought out what they'd do with the film once it was made. I made quite a few suggestions for the distribution - other people we could send it to as well as museum staff.

Tutor: Yes, they mentioned that. OK, good, well it sounds like they certainly ...

I'm going to talk today about research into a particular species of bird, the New Caledonian crow, whose natural habitat is small islands in the Pacific Ocean. And it seems that these crows are exceptionally resourceful.

Using sticks or other tools to find food isn't unknown among birds and animals. Some chimpanzees, for example, are known to bang nuts on stones, in order to break the shell and get at the edible kernel inside. One New Caledonian crow, called Betty, bent some straight wire into a hook and used it to lift a small bucket of her favourite food from a vertical pipe. This experiment was the first time she'd been presented with wire, which makes it very impressive. Another crow, called Barney, has demonstrated his skill at using sticks to forage for food.

In one research project, scientists from New Zealand and Oxford set captive New Caledonian crows a three-stage problem: if they wanted to extract food from a hole, the crows first had to pull up a string to get a short stick, then use that short stick to remove a long stick from a toolbox, and finally use the long stick to reach the food. Amazingly, they worked out how to do this successfully.

Further experiments carried out at Oxford suggest that crows can also use sticks as tools to inspect all sorts of objects, possibly to assess whether or not they present a danger. The idea for the experiment came from observing the birds using tools to pick at random objects, such as a picture of a spider that was printed on some cloth. In this research, five pairs of crows - including Barney - underwent tests to see how they would react to a variety of objects, which were carefully chosen so the birds wouldn't be tempted to view them as a possible source of food. As a further precaution, all the crows had been fed beforehand.

On eight occasions, a bird's first contact was by using a tool. In all three trials, Barney began by using a stick for inspection. One involved a rubber snake. First he approached it, but didn't touch it, then retreated to pick up a stick. He then prodded it with the stick. After some more investigation, he discarded the stick and carried on pecking at the snake more confidently - apparently convinced that it wouldn't move.

In other experiments, two different birds, called Pierre and Corbeau, also made a first approach with tools on three separate occasions. Pierre used a short piece of woodchip to touch a light which was flashing, and Corbeau was seen prodding a metal toad with a stick.

Significantly, the crows tended to use the sticks only to make their first contact with the object. Subsequently, they either ignored the object or dropped the tool and pecked at the object - which is very different from using the tool to get access to food.

So what conclusions can be drawn from the research? Evidence is building up from experiments such as these that the birds are able to plan their actions in advance, which is very interesting for understanding their cognition. They don't seem to be responding in a pre-programmed sort of way: it may even be possible that they're able to view a problem and work out what the answer is. However, a major difficulty is assessing whether this tool-using behaviour is a sign of intelligence. To some extent, this is related to the ecological circumstances in which the animal is found.

So scientists want to find out much more about how the crows behave in their native habitat, and a team from Exeter and Oxford universities is carrying out research in New Caledonia. They're looking into whether the birds' way of searching for food gives them any possible evolutionary advantage. The birds are hard to observe, as they live in a region of mountainous forest, so the researchers have attached tiny cameras to the tails of some birds, as one method of investigating their behaviour.

The birds are masters at using sticks to find their food, in particular beetle larvae from the trees. It's possible that the birds can derive so much energy from these grubs that they only need to eat a few each day. This would mean that they wouldn't have to spend most of their waking time searching for food, as most animals do.

The beetle larvae have a distinct chemical make-up, which can be traced through the feathers and blood of birds that eat them. Scientists have collected samples from crows in order to estimate the proportion of larvae in their diet. They should then be able to gauge the extent to which individual birds depend on using sticks to feed themselves.

We've learnt a great deal about the ability of New Caledonian crows to use tools, and some very interesting research is being carried out into them.