Shadowing Practice: Cambridge 15 Listening Test 4 With Answers | - Learn English Speaking with Video
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IELTS 15.
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Published by Cambridge University Press and Cambridge Assessment English 2020.
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This recording is copyright.
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Test 4.
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This is the IELTS Listening Test.
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You will hear a number of different recordings and you will have to answer questions on what you hear.
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There will be time for you to read the instructions and questions and you will have a chance to check your work.
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All the recordings will be played once only.
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The test is in four parts.
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At the end of the test, you will be given ten minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.
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Now turn to part one.
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Part 1.
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You will hear a representative from a train company talking to a woman about her train journey.
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First you have some time to look at questions 1 to 6.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 6.
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Hello.
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Do you mind
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if I ask you some questions about your journey today? we're
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doing a customer satisfaction survey yes okay I've got about ten
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minutes before my train home leaves I'm on a day trip great thank you
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so first of all could you tell me your name it's Sophie bird thank you
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and would you mind telling me what you do I'm a journalist oh really
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that must be interesting yes it is
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so what's the reason for your visit here today work actually
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it's my day off i came here to do some shopping oh right
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but i do sometimes come here for work okay now i'd like to ask some questions about your journey today
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if that's okay yes no problem right so can you tell me
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which station you're traveling back to stormforth where i live ah
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can i just check the spelling s t a u n f i r t h that's right
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and you traveled from there this morning yes okay good
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next can i ask what kind of ticket you bought i
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assume it wasn't a season ticket as you don't travel every
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day that's right no i just got a normal return ticket i don't have a rail card
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so I didn't get any discount.
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I keep meaning to get one because it's a lot cheaper.
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Yes, you'd have saved 20 % on your ticket today.
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So you paid the full price for your ticket?
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I paid £23 .70.
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Okay.
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Do you think that's good value for money?
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Not really.
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I think it's too much for a journey that only takes 45 minutes.
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Yes, that's one of the main complaints we get.
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So you didn't buy your ticket in advance?
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No. I know it's cheaper if you buy a week in advance, but I didn't know I was coming then.
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I know.
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You can't always plan ahead.
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So, did you buy it this morning?
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No, it was yesterday.
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Right.
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And do you usually buy your tickets at the station?
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Well, I do usually, but the ticket office closes early and I hate using ticket machines.
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I think ticket offices should be open for longer hours.
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There's always a queue for the machines, and they're often out of order.
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A lot of customers are saying the same thing.
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So, to answer your question, I got an e -ticket online.
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Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 7 to 10.
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Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10.
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OK, thank you.
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Now, I'd like to ask you about your satisfaction with your journey.
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So, what would you say you were most satisfied with today?
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Well, I like the Wi -Fi on the train.
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It's improved a lot.
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It makes it easier for me to work if I want to.
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That's the first time today anyone's mentioned that.
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It's good to get some positive feedback on that.
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And is there anything you weren't satisfied with?
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Well, normally the trains run on time and are pretty reliable, but today there was a delay.
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The train was about 15 minutes behind schedule.
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OK, I'll put that down.
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Now, I'd also like to ask about the facilities at the station.
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You've probably noticed that the whole station's been upgraded.
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What are you most satisfied with?
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Erm, I think the best thing is that they've improved the amount of information about train times etc that's given to passengers.
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It's much clearer.
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Before there was only one board and I couldn't always see it properly, which was frustrating.
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That's good.
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And is there anything you're not satisfied with?
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Let's see.
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I think things have generally improved a lot.
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The trains are much more modern and I like the new cafe
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but one thing is that there aren't enough places to sit down especially on the platforms okay
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so I'll put seating down shall I as the thing you're
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least satisfied with yes okay can I ask your opinion about
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some of the other facilities mm -hmm we'd like feedback on whether people are satisfied dissatisfied
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or neither satisfied nor dissatisfied okay what about the parking at
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the station well to be honest i don't really have an opinion as i never use it
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so neither satisfied nor dissatisfied for that then yes i suppose
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so okay that is the end of part one you now have one minute to check your answers to part one
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Part 2
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You will hear the chair of a committee on park facilities addressing her local town council about changes
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that have been made to the park.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 16.
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as chair of the town council subcommittee on park facilities i'd
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like to bring you up to date on some of the changes
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that have been made recently to the croft valley park so
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if you could just take a look at the map i handed out let's begin with a general overview
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so the basic arrangement of the park hasn't changed.
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It still has two gates, north and south, and a lake in the middle.
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The cafe continues to serve an assortment of drinks and snacks, and is still in the same place,
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looking out over the lake and next to the old museum.
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We're hoping to change the location of the toilets and bring them nearer to the centre of the park, as they're a bit out of the way at present,
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near the Adventure Playground, in the corner of your map.
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The formal gardens have been replanted and should be at their best in a month or two.
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They used to be behind the old museum, but we've now used the space near the south gate,
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between the park boundary and the path that goes past the lake towards the old museum.
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We have a new outdoor gym for adults and children.
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which is already proving very popular.
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It's by the glasshouses, just to the right of the path from the south gate.
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You have to look for it, as it's a bit hidden in the trees.
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One very successful introduction has been our skateboard ramp.
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It's in constant use during the evenings and holidays.
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It's near the old museum,
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at the end of a little path that leads off from the main path between the lake and the museum.
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We've also introduced a new area for wildflowers to attract bees and butterflies.
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It's on a bend in the path that goes round the east side of the lake, just south of the Adventure Playground.
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Now, let me tell you a bit more about some of the changes to Croft Valley Park.
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One of our most exciting developments has been the Adventure Playground.
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We were aware that we had nowhere for children to let off steam
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and decided to use our available funds to set up a
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completely new facility in a large space to the north of the park.
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It's open year -round, though it closes early in the winter months, and entrance is completely free.
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Children can choose whatever activities they want to do, irrespective of their age.
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But we do ask adults not to leave them on their own there.
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There are plenty of seats where parents can relax
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and keep an eye on their children at the same time lastly the glass houses
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a huge amount of work has been done on them to repair the damage following the disastrous fire
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that recently destroyed their western side over 80 000 pounds was spent on replacing the glass walls
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and the metal supports as well as the plants
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that had been destroyed although unfortunately the collection of tropical palm trees has proved too expensive to replace up to now
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at present the glass houses are open from 10am to 3pm mondays to thursdays
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and it's hoped to extend this to the weekend soon we're
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grateful to all those who helped us by contributing their time and money to this achievement the gardens have really been
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that is the end of part two you now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part two
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Part 3 You will hear two students of social history,
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called Annie and Jack, discussing their presentation about refrigeration.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.
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OK, Jack.
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before we plan our presentation about refrigeration let's discuss what we've discovered
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so far fine annie though i have to admit i haven't done much research yet nor me
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but i found an interesting article about ice houses i'd seen some 18th
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and 19th century ones here in the uk
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so i knew they were often built in a shady area
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or underground close to lakes that might freeze in the winter
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Then blocks of ice could be cut and stored in the ice house.
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But I didn't realise that insulating the blocks with straw or sawdust meant they didn't melt for months.
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The ancient Romans had refrigeration too.
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I didn't know that.
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Yes.
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Pits were dug in the ground and snow was imported from the mountains, even though they were at quite a distance.
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The snow was stored in the pits.
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Ice formed at the bottom of it.
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Both the ice and the snow were then sold.
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The ice cost more than the snow, and my guess is that only the wealthy members of society could afford it.
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I wouldn't be surprised.
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I also came across an article about modern domestic fridges.
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Several different technologies are used, but they were too complex for me to understand.
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You have to wonder what happens when people get rid of old ones.
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You mean because the gases in them are harmful for the environment?
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Exactly.
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At least there are now plenty of organisations that will recycle most of the components safely.
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But of course, some people just dump old fridges in the countryside.
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It's hard to see how they can be stopped, unfortunately.
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In the UK, we get rid of three million a year altogether.
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That sounds a lot, especially because fridges hardly ever break down.
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That's right.
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In this country, we keep domestic fridges for 11 years on average, and a lot lasts for 20 or more.
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So if you divide the cost by the number of years you can use a fridge, they're not expensive compared with some household appliances.
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True.
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I suppose manufacturers encourage people to spend more by making them different colours and designs.
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I'm sure when my parents bought their first fridge, they had hardly any choice.
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Yes, there's been quite a change.
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Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.
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Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.
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Right, let's make a list of topics to cover in our presentation and decide who's going to do more research on them.
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Then later we can get together and plan the next step.
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OK.
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How about starting with how useful refrigeration is, and the range of goods that are refrigerated nowadays?
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Because, of course, it's not just food and drinks.
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No, I suppose flowers and medicines are refrigerated too. And computers.
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I could do that, unless you particularly want to.
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No, that's fine by me.
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What about the effects of refrigeration on people's health?
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After all, some of the chemicals used in the 19th century were pretty harmful but there have been lots of benefits too, like always having access to fresh food.
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Do you fancy dealing with that?
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I'm not terribly keen, to be honest. Nor me.
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My mind just goes blank when I read anything about chemicals.
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Oh, all right then.
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I'll do you a favour.
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But you owe me, Jack.
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OK.
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What about the effects on food producers, like farmers in poorer countries being able to export their produce to developed countries?
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something for you maybe i don't mind you should be quite
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interesting i think we should also look at how refrigeration has helped whole cities like las vegas
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which couldn't exist without refrigeration
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because it's in the middle of a desert right i had
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a quick look at an economics book in the library that's
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got a chapter about this sort of thing i could give you the title
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if you want to do this section not particularly to be
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honest i find economics books pretty heavy going as a rule
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okay leave it to me then thanks then there's transport
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and the difference that refrigerated trucks have made i wouldn't mind having a go at that don't forget trains too
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i read something about milk and butter being transported in refrigerated railroad cars in the USA right back in the 1840s.
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I hadn't thought of trains, thanks.
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Shall we have a separate section on domestic fridges?
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After all, they're something everyone's familiar with.
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What about splitting it into two?
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You could investigate 19th and 20th century fridges, and I'll concentrate on what's available these days,
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and how manufacturers differentiate their products from those of their competitors.
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OK, that'd suit me.
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That is the end of Part 3.
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You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to Part 3.
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Part 4.
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You will hear a history student giving part of a presentation about changes in British society in the 19th century.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.
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Thank you.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
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Hi everyone.
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In this session, I'll be presenting my research about the social history of Britain during the Industrial Revolution.
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I particularly looked at how ordinary lives were affected by changes that happened at that time.
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This was a time that saw the beginning of a new phenomenon,
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consumerism, where buying and selling goods became a major part of ordinary people's lives.
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In fact, it was in the 19th century that the quantity
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and quality of people's possessions was used as an indication of the wealth of the country.
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Before this, the vast majority of people had very few possessions, but all that was changed by the Industrial Revolution.
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This was the era from the mid -18th to the late 19th century, when improvements in how goods were made, as well as in technology,
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triggered massive social changes that transformed life for just about everybody in several key areas.
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First, let's look at manufacturing.
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When it comes to manufacturing, we tend to think of the Industrial Revolution in images of steam engines and coal,
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and it's true that the Industrial Revolution couldn't have taken place at all if it weren't for these new sources of power.
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They marked an important shift away from the traditional water mills and windmills that had dominated before this.
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The most advanced industry for much of the 19th century was textiles.
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This meant that fashionable fabrics and lace and ribbons were made available to everyone.
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Before the Industrial Revolution, most people made goods to sell in small workshops, often in their own homes.
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But enormous new machines were now being created that could produce the goods faster and on a larger scale,
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and these required a lot more space.
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So large factories were built, replacing the workshops and forcing workers to travel to work.
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In fact, large numbers of people migrated from villages into towns as a result.
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As well as manufacturing, there were new technologies in transport, contributing to the growth of consumerism.
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The horse -drawn stagecoaches and carts of the 18th century, which carried very few people and goods and travelled slowly along poorly surfaced roads,
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were gradually replaced by the numerous canals that were constructed.
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These were particularly important for the transportation of goods.
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The canals gradually fell out of use, though, as railways were developed,
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becoming the main way of moving goods and people from one end of the country to the other.
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And the goods they moved weren't just coal, iron, clothes and so on.
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Significantly, they included newspapers, which meant
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that thousands of people were not only more knowledgeable about what was going on in the country, but could also read about what was available in the shops,
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and that encouraged them to buy more.
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So faster forms of transport resulted in distribution becoming far more efficient.
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Goods could now be sold all over the country instead of just in the local market.
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The third main area that saw changes that contributed to consumerism was retailing.
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The number and quality of shops grew rapidly,
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and in particular, small shops suffered as customers flocked to the growing number of department stores,
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a form of retailing that was new in the 19th century.
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The entrepreneurs who opened these found new ways to stock them with goods and to attract customers.
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For instance, improved lighting inside greatly increased the visibility of the goods for sale.
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Another development that made goods more visible from outside resulted from the use of plate glass,
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which made it possible for windows to be much larger than previously.
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New ways of promoting goods were introduced, too.
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Previously, the focus had been on informing potential customers about the availability of goods.
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Now, there was an explosion in advertising trying to persuade people to go shopping.
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Flanders claims that one of the great effects of the Industrial Revolution was that it created choice.
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All sorts of things that have previously been luxuries, from sugar to cutlery, became conveniences,
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and before long they turned into necessities.
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Life without sugar or cutlery was unimaginable, rather like mobile phones these days.
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That is the end of part four.
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You now have one minute to check your answers to part four.
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We'll be right back.
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Thank you.
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the listening test.
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In the IELTS test, you would now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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You .
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We'll be right back.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Cambridge 15 Listening Test 4 With Answers |”. This video has 277 sentences and 3102 words to shadow. The speech runs for 31:24. The speaker talks slowly, about 99 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| satisfy verb | /ˈsætɪsfaɪ/ | To be enough (for) |
| carefully adverb | /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ | With care; attentively, circumspectly. |
| presentation noun | /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/ | The act of presenting, or something presented. |
| gate noun | /ˈɡeɪ̯t/ | A doorlike structure outside a house. |
| contribute verb | /kənˈtɹɪb.jut/ | To give something that is or becomes part of a larger whole. |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| economics noun | /ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪks/ | The study of resource and wealth allocation, consumption, and distribution, of capital and investment, and of management of the factors of production. |
| ordinary adjective | /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/ | Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases. |
| sheet noun | /ʃit/ | A thin bed cloth used as a covering for a mattress or as a layer over the sleeper. |
| possession noun | /pəˈzɛʃn̩/ | A control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights. |
| feedback noun | /ˈfiːdˌbæk/ | Critical assessment of a process or activity or of their results. |
| pit noun | /pɪt/ | A hole in the ground. |
| canal noun | /kəˈnæl/ | An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation. |
| gradually adverb | /ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuəli/ | In a gradual manner; making slow progress; slowly. |
| manufacturer noun | /ˌmænjʊˈfæktʃəɹə/ | A person or company that manufactures. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| break down verb | To stop functioning. |
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. |
| get together verb | To meet, to gather together, to congregate. |
| go past verb | To elapse. (said of time) |
| go round verb | To physically swirl or rotate. |
| hand out verb | To distribute; to give out, either by hand or as if so (figuratively). |
| let off verb | To cause to explode or come out; to release. |
| plan ahead verb | To schedule or plan extensively for problems before it is needed; to come up with solutions before problems occur; to prepare for future situations. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Do you think that's good value for money?
- Yes, that's one of the main complaints we get.
- What are you most satisfied with?
- Do you fancy dealing with that?
- Shall we have a separate section on domestic fridges?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | You've probably noticed · they've improved · have been made |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | will be played · will be given · been upgraded |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | properly, which was · those who helped |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 60 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, don't, I'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: wealthy /ˈwɛl.θi/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/, sheet /ʃit/, possession /pəˈzɛʃn̩/, satisfaction /sætɪsˈfækʃən/, workshop /ˈwɝk.ʃɑp/
- Long words — get the stress right: economics /ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪks/, ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, manufacturer /ˌmænjʊˈfæktʃəɹə/, satisfaction /sætɪsˈfækʃən/, organisation /ˈɔː.ɡə.naɪˌzeɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like satisfy, carefully, presentation.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.