Shadowing Practice: Cambridge IELTS 21 Academic Listening Test 1 | Full Answers & Transcript - Learn English Speaking with Video

IELTS 21 published by Cambridge University  Press and Assessment 2026. This recording is copyright test one. This is the IELTS  listening test. You will hear a number of different recordings and you will have to answer  questions on what you hear. There will be time for you to read the instructions and questions  and you will have a chance to check your work.

All the recordings will be played once only. The  test is in four parts. At the end of the test, you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your  answers to an answer sheet. Now, turn to part one.

Part one, you will hear a man phoning a  sailing club to ask about learning to sail.

First, you have some time to  look at questions 1 to six.

Now listen carefully and  answer questions 1 to six.

Hello Oyster Bay Sailing Club. How can I help you?  Oh, hi. I'd like to find out about sailing courses for beginners. No problem. Is it for yourself?  Yes. I had a look online, but I'm not sure which course would be best. Okay. Well, you might be  interested in our taster days, possibly. So, these are for people who've never sailed before.  It's basically an introduction to sailing to find out whether you enjoy it and want to carry on with  it. And how much is that? It's £120 for the day, but it's reduced to £110 each if there were  two of you. No, it would just be me. Oh, that's fine. You'd be in a small group, usually  about eight people, but no more than 10, and everyone's always very friendly. Uh-huh. And are  there any other suitable courses? The other option is the level one course. These are two-day weekend  courses and we run those all year round. Okay. And what do you learn on that course? This is a mix  of theory and practical skills. So you learn about things like the weather which is obviously really  important and also the tides as well as learning basic sailing skills. You go out into the harbor  in special training dingies for beginners. Two people in each dinghy and an instructor. He or she  will make sure you understand everything you need to know about safety. It sounds like hard work.  Yes, but you'll have a lot of fun, too. And the cost of that one is £200, but it's a bit cheaper  if you decide to join the club. There's a discount for members. Well, I'm not sure about that yet.  You've got plenty of time to decide. And does the cost include everything? Yes, everything's  included. And you also get a really good dictionary explaining all the sailing terminology.  A lot of people struggle with this at first. It's got lots of pictures, so I'm sure you'd find it  really helpful. And on completion of the course, you get a certificate. Then you're ready to  move on to the level two course. Sounds good.

Before you hear the rest of the conversation,  you have some time to look at questions 7 to 10.

Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10.

I think that's all the info you need for now.  Just a couple of general things. For example, it's really important that you know how to swim.  Yes, I'm pretty confident in the water. Great. The other thing I should tell you is that we provide  wets suits and life jackets, but you need to bring swimming trunks and some old trainers and  a towel. Yes, definitely. And you might want to bring your own toiletries, things like shampoo.  Okay. What about food and drink? Do I need to bring that or is there a cafe at the club? Yes,  you can get sandwiches, cakes, and snacks there.

The food's pretty reasonable. Okay, good. Well,  I think I'm interested in the level one course, but I know absolutely nothing about sailing, so  is there anything I can do to prepare myself a bit? I recommend you watch some videos we use  for training. They're available online. I can send you the link. They'll give you an idea of  what to expect. Perfect. Thanks. That would be very helpful. Oh, and just one other thing.  I'll be cycling to the club and we'll need somewhere to put valuables. I'm just wondering  if there are lockers for people to use. Yes, there are plenty in the changing rooms.  Great. Okay. Well, could you book me on to the That is the end of part one. You now have  one minute to check your answers to part one.

Part two, you will hear a woman giving  advice on a podcast about how to become a makeup artist in the film industry. First, you  have some time to look at questions 11 to 16.

Now listen carefully and  answer questions 11 to 16.

Hello and welcome to the film making podcast.  In this week's episode, Claire Lamar talks to us about how to become a makeup artist. Claire  has been working as a makeup artist in the film industry for over 20 years and has lots of  useful advice about how to get started. Thanks, Ian. Well, before you can become a makeup  artist on films, you have to spend about 2 years working as a makeup trainee. A good  place to get your first job would be on a low-budget short film. Of course, this  means that you'll be working for free, but it's often worth it for the experience.  Make sure your transport costs are covered.

And remember, there's very unlikely to be any  catering provided, so bring plenty of food.

If you're lucky, you might start out on a big  budget film where you'll get the most useful experience. On productions like this, makeup  and hair styling are separate department, so you won't need to bring your curling tongs,  but you're likely to get the opportunity to work with a range of age groups as well as different  ethnicities. Doing makeup for special effects is highly specialized, so don't expect to be offered  any practical experience in that. One problem with working in the makeup department is that it's  a high pressure environment. There are very few times when you'll be bored or have nothing to  do. It can be stressful, but you'll see that the top makeup artists are very professional, even  when they're having to work with directors who are impatient or unhappy with the makeup artists  work. Follow your supervisor's lead, and try to remain calm at all times. I've worked with many  very famous actors over the years. At first, I found it overwhelming and could hardly speak.  I was so in awe. That's preferable, by the way, to becoming too excited and asking for selfies.  Now, meeting the talent is just a normal part of the job. And to be honest, most actors don't look  that special without all the makeup. Every makeup trainee will need a makeup kit, which they'll be  expected to have with them at all times. Just the essentials will do for the kinds of tasks you'll  be given. It won't be anything complicated.

It's worth looking at what the other makeup  artists have in their kits. But whatever you do, don't borrow anything without asking first. It's  very important to build your portfolio. You should take photos of all the work you do and ideally  show the different stages of makeup application if you can. But remember, you'll need to get  approval from the makeup designer in charge of the department as you'll be sending your portfolio.  digitally. You won't need to get photos printed.

Before you hear the rest of the podcast, you  have some time to look at questions 17 to 20.

Now listen and answer questions 17 to 20.

So what does a makeup trainee actually do? you  need to think about whether you're the right kind of person to do the job and whether you'd enjoy  it. So, to give you some idea, here are some of the things you might be required to do. You may  be asked to help prep an actor ready for makeup.

Some actors will arrive having already cleansed  and moisturized their skin, but sometimes you'll need to step in and get this done without wasting  any time. Otherwise, the makeup artist will get behind schedule. Trainees play a useful role in  continuity. It will be your responsibility to take photos, log them digitally, and print out  a hard copy to put in each actor's file. This information needs to be kept in good order, as a  re-shoot can mean replicating makeup months later.

General duties mean doing anything from  getting the teas and coffees to putting on a wash. Having a positive attitude and  being willing to do whatever is asked of you will help you get your next film job.  You won't be asked to apply makeup to any of the principal cast, only the extras.  If there are dozens of extras involved, you'll need to keep up a swift pace and not  spend too long on each person. It takes quite a lot of confidence to be able to do this.  Well, okay. Now, about terms and conditions.

That is the end of part two. You now have 30  seconds to check your answers to part two.

Part three. You will hear two  marine biology students discussing a lecture on marine biodiversity and  conservation from a visiting speaker.

First, you have some time to  look at questions 21 to 24.

Now listen carefully and  answer questions 21 to 24.

That lecture from the visiting speaker  yesterday was good, wasn't it? Yeah, I learned a lot from her about ocean biodiversity.  I've already done some reading on it and I did an assignment on some of the problems associated  with it last year, but I especially like the way her lecture focused on more long-term issues. Yes,  things that aren't currently receiving widespread attention but are likely to be important  in the future. That impressed me, too.

It wasn't exactly a feel-good conclusion because  it's hard to see any real solution for a lot of the problems. No, though she did point to where  policy changes could be made to protect our marine and coastal environments. But that's just at  a national level. The examples she gave were at a more global level and they really made it  clear to me just how wide ranging the threats to ocean biodiversity are. Yes, me too. The  research project she described was impressive, wasn't it? I'd have thought it was quite unusual  to have so many experts working together. Yeah.

And from such different backgrounds. Must  have been a really exciting team to work with.

I'd heard of a couple of them before. They  were involved in research way back in 2009, warning about the dangers of ocean pollution.  But now people are much more aware of that, aren't they? I suppose so. Another thing about  the research is that the team members came from all around the world, though I suppose that's not  unusual nowadays. Now, everyone can work remotely, right? I like the way she didn't bombard us  with figures. I mean, they were available, but she focused more on the general points they  indicated. H and the description of improvements in systems used for tracking marine animals and  things like robots were really interesting. Yes.

And her description of how robotics can be used to  investigate threats to biodiversity. Absolutely.

Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you  have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.

Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.

While you're here, can we talk about the  list of resources we have to evaluate for the seminar tomorrow? I've had a look  at them all, but it's been a bit of a rush. Yeah. What did you think of that  article on invasive lion fish? The one claiming they were expanding their habitat  throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Well, the writer went on about how dangerous they were  in environmental terms, which is probably true, but he didn't really provide much information to  explain why. I know what you mean. I watched the documentary on microlastics. At least I started  to, but then I found it was made 10 years ago, so I gave up. I watched to the end, but you're  right, it was showing its age. People had hardly heard of microplastics then, whereas now  everyone knows about them and how dangerous they are. Yeah. Did you listen to the podcast on  ocean pollution? I didn't get anything out of it, though. Most of it was stating the obvious. Yes,  it mentioned pesticides and plastic and things and it clearly made the point that they were a bad  thing, but everybody knows that. Anyway, did you read that book on coastal ecosystems? The one by  John Harper? Yes. I found it hardgoing at first.

It went into a lot of detail about things like  the effects of offshore wind farms and fish farms, but actually I ended up with a much  better understanding of the issues. Yes, I agree. And I thought it was a well-ritten  summary of those and the diagrams helped a lot too. The article on metal toxicity was way above  my head. I didn't know anything about how metals from industrial emissions react in the ocean and I  still don't understand it. I gave up reading after the first chapter. I just couldn't follow it. That  podcast on floating marine cities was interesting, though it presented a rather one-sided picture,  I thought. Yes, it focused on how this would benefit people and ignored the effects on  the environment. But anyway, shall we talk?

That is the end of part three. You now have 30  seconds to check your answers to part three.

Part four. You will hear part of a science  lecture about different sources of rubber. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

Now listen carefully and  answer questions 31 to 40.

Much of the world now lives in an industrial  civilization. But this has only become possible because we have the necessary natural resources.  There are three types of natural resource without which industry could not exist. One of these is  metal. Without that, we'd have no machines and no transportation. Another is fossil fuels, which we  need to power those machines. But there's a third resource that's essential to connect the different  parts of a machine together with belts and pipes and shock absorbers, and that is rubber. It's  now used in over 40,000 products from waterproof footwear to surgical gloves. At present, we have  two types of rubber in common use. One is natural rubber which nearly all comes from the para rubber  tree. This was originally native to Brazil but is now cultivated on plantations in Southeast Asia.  Recently, however, concerns been growing that supplies may soon be insufficient for the world's  needs. So, what exactly is limiting the supply of natural rubber? Well, for one thing, rubber trees  don't just spring up overnight. It can take 8 to 10 years for a tree to start producing rubber. So,  cultivating them's a slow process. And this leads to another problem. With most crops, farmers don't  have to think very far ahead. So they can easily change what crop they produce or how much of a  crop they produce if they find the demand for that crop is rising or falling. But if you have to  plant 8 or 10 years ahead, that's much harder. And also the rubber tree is very choosy about where it  grows. It needs the right temperature, the right amount of rainfall, and the right altitude, not  too high and not too low. The result is that it can't be grown in the northern or southern parts  of the globe, only around the equator. Another problem is that the rubber is basically extracted  in the same way as it's been done for hundreds of years, and that's by hand. by making small cuts  in the trunk of the tree and putting a little cup there to catch the latex as the rubber is called.  It's very labor intensive. And it's not just the initial production that's limiting supplies.  With other resources such as water and glass, when we finished using them, we can recycle them.  But although this is also possible with rubber, it's very difficult. So that also reduces the  amount we have available. And in the last few years, there have been new threats to the  supply of natural rubber. One problem is linked to the fact that nearly all the rubber  trees in Southeast Asia are descended from just a small number of seeds brought from Brazil in  the 19th century. This means that there's very little genetic diversity among the trees which  in turn makes them very vulnerable to disease.

The most dangerous threat is a fungus which  destroyed large numbers of rubber trees in Brazil and which could cause devastation to plantations  worldwide. Another problem is that farmers in Southeast Asia are increasingly turning to the  cultivation of palm oil which is easier and more profitable for them. And finally, in recent years,  Southeast Asia, like other parts of the world, has been repeatedly hit by extreme types of weather,  and this looks likely to continue in the future.

However, as well as using natural rubber, it's  also possible to make rubber synthetically.

This works very well for some purposes. For  example, making engine parts or silicon pots and pans used for cooking, but compared  with natural rubber, it's not anything like as strong. And this means it can't replace  natural rubber in other products. For example, while a mixture of natural rubber and synthetic  rubber works well in car tires, only natural rubber can stand up to the extreme speeds of  aircraft tires during takeoff and landing. So, for some time, scientists have been looking for  alternative sources of natural rubber. one that's been known about for some time seems initially  to be a rather unlikely source. It's a wild plant with yellow flowers that we normally regard as a  weed when we see it in our gardens. But when it's pulled up and its roots cut open, they are found  to contain rubber. Now, compared to the rubber tree, dandelions produce relatively small amounts  of rubber, but unlike rubber trees, they're very adaptable. They'll grow in all sorts of places,  and they don't need rich soil. So, at present, there are several projects underway investigating  the possibility of using dandelions as a source of rubber. Another possibility is a desert  shrub grown in Mexico and Texas, which is also That is the end of part four. You now have  one minute to check your answers to part four.