Succeed in IELTS Academic Listening Test 8 (Online Test)

Presenter: Good afternoon and welcome to the programme. Today we have a special programme about the history of tennis in this country and we also have Steve Mackay in the studio, the all-time great British tennis player, to give us the lowdown on some interesting facts about the sport and other great tennis players. Steve, obviously tennis is one of the most popular sports broadcast on T.V today. Can you tell us about the early days of tennis?

Steve: Well, the medieval form of tennis is known as 'real tennis' and eventually became 'lawn tennis' which is what we know today. 'Real tennis' changed over three centuries from an earlier ball game played around the 12th century in France. This had some similarities to handball. People would hit a ball with a bare hand and later with a glove. People say this game was played by monks in monasteries. By the 16th century, the glove had become a racquet. 'Real tennis' spread in popularity throughout royalty in Europe and was the most popular in the 16th century.

Presenter: It's amazing how the sport has changed then over time and how technology has helped to advance it with the state-of-the-art tennis racquets that we have today. So, what about the players who will go down in history as the best at this sport? Who do you think will be remembered on the Wall of Fame?

Steve: Well, obviously I have many favourites and all tennis players have different styles and will be remembered for different aspects of their game. The first player though that has to be mentioned is the great Bjorn Borg. He will go down in history due to the fact that he won 11 Grand Slam singles titles between 1974 and 1981, five at Wimbledon and six at the French Open. Born in '56 in Sweden, Borg became the youngest winner of the Italian Championship just before his 18th birthday, and two weeks later he was the youngest winner of the French Championship. Borg is the only player in the open era to have won both Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year more than once.

Another very important tennis player is Boris Becker. He was born in 1967 in Leimen, West Germany, and he is a six-time Grand Slam singles champion. Since he retired in 1999 from the professional tour, media work and his personal life have kept him in the headlines. An interesting aspect of his career is the fact that he was the youngest ever male Grand Slam singles champion, winning Wimbledon at 17 years, 7 months.

Moving on to our next great player, we have Pete Sampras. He was born on August 12, 1971 in Washington D.C and during his 15-year career he won 14 Grand Slam men's singles titles. His flair for the game was evident at age 3 when he discovered a tennis racquet in the basement of his home and spent hours hitting balls against the wall. His parents are of Greek origin. He has given some truly unforgettable performances on the court over the years.

The final player I will mention is the great Andre Agassi. He was born on April 29, in 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada. During his career he won 4 Australian Open titles, 1 French Open, 1 Wimbledon and 2 US Open which gives a total of eight Grand Slam titles. An interesting aspect of his career was that he turned professional at the age of 16 and his first tournament was in La Quinta, California. He won his first match against John Austin 6-4, 6-2 but then lost his second match to Mats Wilander 6-1, 6-1. By the end of the year, Agassi was ranked World No. 91.

Presenter: These players really have achieved a great amount in their lives and they will be talked about for years to come, especially when the Wimbledon Championships come round in June. Steve, which one is your ultimate favourite?

Steve: I just can't answer that; they all evoke great memories in the world of tennis and they have all contributed so much to the game. Their names will always be inscribed on the wall of champions!

Sam: So ... Mr Peters has finally agreed that we can organise this year's college conference, so we need to really go through all the most important items in order to establish a general schedule for the conference and how we are going to put it all together.

Kate: Yes, I agree. We can't leave things to the last minute and there are quite a lot of good speakers who have offered their services for this conference.

Dave: It's important that things go smoothly. Don't forget that Mr Peters has been against the idea of this conference for the last two years so we need to make it worthwhile and get at least 100 students to attend, so that we can prove this is an event that students can benefit from.

Lucy: The most important thing we need to consider is the range of speakers who we will invite to the conference. If they are well-respected in their different fields then the students will be very keen to come and hear the talks. We don't have a massive budget either, so we have to negotiate on the fees that the speakers will charge.

Kate: Sam, you mentioned before this meeting that you have had some calls from some interesting potential speakers. Can you give us the lowdown on the rough list that you have at the moment?

Sam: Yes, the main person on my list, who is an expert in the field of Business Management, is Professor Harman. He would be good at running workshops where students can discuss how to start a business and he likes to include role-plays, which make the sessions more interesting.

Kate: Yes, I've heard of him and people have told me that he is dynamic and interesting. He doesn't like just giving lectures; he likes to get the students involved more in the discussion. We should definitely send him a formal invitation. What about another area of study such as Maths?

Sam: Well, I have done some research on Mr Steve Bishop, I heard about him because my brother went to see him give a lecture at a University in his area. Apparently, he is well-respected among many Universities in England for his knowledge in the field of Maths. He's even done some research with some famous Mathematicians.

Lucy: My sister studies Maths at University and I think he came to her University, too, to give some extra lectures. He would be a good one to keep on the list. I could send the invitation to him if you want, Sam.

Sam: That would be great, thanks. We have speakers now, to talk about business and mathematics so it would be a good idea to invite someone who is an expert in an Arts subject, like English or Drama. I haven't actually got any ideas for Arts subjects.

Kate: Well, I'm planning to do Drama at University and I know of a lady who is the head of Drama at a well-known University. Her name is Sandra Bolton. She would give some Drama seminars where students can discuss aspects of theatre and production in smaller groups. I also know a professor called Mr Max Wallington. He is a Professor of English Literature and he would come and give a lecture about Shakespeare. I'll send invitations to Ms Bolton and Mr Wallington then.

Sam: Great! That's two Arts subjects covered then. The final main subject area we need to think about is Science. Dave, you want to study Biology at University, don't you? Do you know of any Professors we can contact?

Dave: Well, there's the famous Professor Sean O'Brien. He's done quite a lot of work in the field of genetics. I'm sure all the budding scientists will really want to come and hear him speak. As well as this, there's the 'mad scientist', Geoff O'Hara who is very knowledgeable about Albert Einstein and he can come and talk about his famous theories.

Sam: Perfect. Now that we have some speakers in mind to cover the main areas of study we need to think about the administration and organisation of the conference. To start with, we need to send the invitations out to all the speakers we have agreed on, on school-headed paper. Kate, Lucy and I will take care of that. Dave, would you be able to contact a photographer to come and take pictures for the newsletter that will be printed after the conference?

Dave: Yes, I know a good photographer who has come to the college for some other events. I will contact him as his photos were of really good quality.

Sam: Lucy, would you be able to order the food and drinks? Which caterers do you think we should use? We don't want to spend too much money. We have about £400 to cover food and drink for 100 students. We need a selection of finger food and soft drinks.

Lucy: I will contact Flying Fish. They are quite cheap and they will do some discounts for us as we have used them before at the college. Don't worry Sam, I'll sort all that out.

Sam: Excellent. We have covered a lot for today. I will book the main college hall and rooms 10, 11, 12 and 13 this week. I think we need to have about two more meetings before the conference. The next one we'll schedule for Wednesday 6th June. Can everyone do that or would Thursday 7th June be better?

Kate: The first date you said is fine with me.

Dave: Me too.

Lucy: Yes that's fine with me as well.

Sam: Last thing to mention before we finish up for today is some things that Mr Peters, our lovely headmaster, has said. As we said at the beginning, he hasn't been so enthusiastic about this conference and he has given us some rules we have to stick to during the conference. I've made a photocopy of them for everyone. I think we should just go through them now to get them out of the way.

Lucy: Good idea.

Sam: Well, the first thing Mr Peters said is that we have to make a record of all the students who attend the conference as he wants those figures after the event to check that the money he gave us to organise it was worth it. He also wants to know which subject each of the students who attended is going to study at University to show that we have provided suitable speakers at the conference. He said that he doesn't mind how many speakers we invite as long as the lectures are well-attended. The last requirement was that we help organise the travel arrangements for the speakers. We can discuss the details of this in the next meeting.

Kate: That all sounds fairly easy to manage. Did Mr Peters not say anything about tidying up the hall and the rooms after? I would have thought that he would have said something about that.

Sam: That wasn't something on the list. I could check with him but the cleaners who clean the college on a regular basis might tidy everything up. They would just have to be paid a bit more. I don't think the conference will produce too much mess anyway.

Dave: It would be good to get some help with all that anyway.

Sam: Yes. So, that's everything then. Let's go for lunch now, I'm starving. We can speak about the next lot of things at the next meeting.

Professor: I'd like to introduce our speaker today who has come all the way from Manchester. Dr Paul Harold, the Head of Research in Nutrition at Manchester University. He is going to talk to us about ways we can improve our lifestyle and fitness. This will include watching what we eat and being more careful about our calorie intake as well as taking regular exercise. This is an important current issue as many people eat too much junk food and the nation as a whole is fatter than it was one hundred years ago.

Dr Harold: Thank you, James, for your introduction. You are absolutely right; statistics show that the nation is heavier than it used to be and this is due to the long hours that we work and the lack of time we have to prepare healthy meals that are low in fat and sugar. There are some simple steps everyone can take to help improve their general health; maybe lose some weight first; in the long run, it could lower your cholesterol and blood pressure.

The first thing to do in order to check that your weight is healthy is to work out your Body Mass Index or BMI. This is a tool that can help you find out if you are a healthy weight for your height. Obviously the height of a person will affect what weight they should be. To work out your BMI you should take your weight in kilograms and divide it by your height in metres. Then you divide the results by your height in metres again. The results you come up with can be checked on a chart to see if your BMI is too high, too low or about right.

Even if your BMI is about where it should be it is still important to eat a healthy and well-balanced diet. A healthy diet involves consuming appropriate amounts of all the food groups, including an adequate amount of water. Nutrients can be obtained from many different foods, so there are a wide variety of healthy diets.

To start with, it is important to eat starchy foods such as bread, cereals, potatoes, rice, and pasta, together with fruit and vegetables and this should provide the bulk of most meals. Some people wrongly think that starchy foods are 'fattening'. In fact, they contain about half the calories of the same weight of fat. Also, starchy foods often contain a lot of fibre. When you eat starchy foods, you get a feeling of fullness which helps to control appetite. It is also important to eat at least 5 portions, and ideally 7 to 9 portions, of a variety of fruit or vegetables each day. If you eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, then your chances of developing heart disease, a stroke, or bowel cancer are reduced. You also need a certain amount of protein to keep healthy. However, most people eat more protein than is necessary. You should choose poultry such as chicken or lean meat. There is evidence that eating oily fish helps to protect against heart disease. It is probably the 'omega-3 fatty acids' in the fish oil that help to reduce build-up in the arteries. Aim to eat at least two portions of fish per week, one of which should be oily.

Obviously what we eat is highly important but it is also crucial to do regular exercise as it strengthens the heart, tones our muscles and is also good for the mind. We're increasingly living in a world where physical activity has stopped being a day-to-day part of our lives.

We have domestic appliances to wash and dry for us and cars to get us around and with the decline in manual labour many of us spend our working day sitting at desks. Adults should do a minimum of 30 minutes moderate-intensity physical activity, five days a week. You don't have to do the whole 30 minutes in one go. Your half-hour could be made up of three ten-minute bursts of activity spread through the day, if you prefer. The activity can be a 'lifestyle activity' such as walking to the shops or taking the dog out or structured exercise or sport, or a combination of these. But it does need to be of at least moderate intensity. For bone health, activities that produce high physical stresses on the bones are necessary.

Well, I hope you have learned some interesting facts from this talk and that it will help you to change your lifestyles for the better. Thank you for your attention and I believe that James has some handouts to give you on this subject, James...