UPPER INTERMEDIATE Assessment audio scripts

UNIT 1 However, more recent research has shown that

bilingualism has a positive effect on our creative
1.1 and cognitive skills. This doesn’t mean that bilingual
speakers are necessarily more imaginative or smarter
Lisa
than monolingual speakers, but tests have shown that
She wasn’t listening to me. She would look at her people who speak more than one language can find it
watch or tap her fingers on the table. I couldn’t stand less challenging to solve difficult problems or to focus
it anymore – I stood up and left. I learned later on that on more than one task at the same time. Another
they’d already hired someone before our meeting, but potential benefit of bilingualism seems to be open-
this doesn’t justify the manager’s behaviour. mindedness. Since bilinguals welcome two different
languages in their heads – which also means two
Göran
different cultures – a recent study finds that bilinguals
Nobody got hurt, fortunately. But it was the first time tend to better understand and tolerate difference.
I’d been in a situation like that. I didn’t know what to
Although there are multiple advantages of bilingualism,
do. I was petrified. Finally, I managed to calm down and
there are also some disadvantages. It seems that
that’s when I called the police. The officers were very
monolinguals are able to find words more quickly than
helpful. Now I know what to do if it happens again.
bilinguals. According to some researchers, this could
Lucas be explained by the possibility that our brain stores
multiple languages in the same ‘box’. Given the fact
My wife told me she would be away for the weekend to
that bilinguals have words for both the languages they
attend a conference. But when I came back home that
speak, it then seems reasonable that their box will be
evening, I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was standing
fuller, and therefore it might take them somewhat
next to this huge cake and behind her were all our
longer to find the right word. On the other hand,
friends and family shouting Happy anniversary!
monolinguals have only one language in their box,
Erika which means they have to go through a shorter list of
words to find the correct or appropriate one.
Over the past few years, this cat’s been visiting almost
every day. I thought he’d decided to come and live with This theory has not yet been proved, but if bilinguals
me. Then, last week, he disappeared. I thought he’d left have more words, and therefore more language to
and moved in with another family. You don’t know how use and a wider variety of conventions to express
thrilled I was to see him back home yesterday. themselves, I would say that they could definitely be
excused for being a bit slower when finding a word.
Adreina
My friend suggested trying this new restaurant. The
place was very well-decorated, great design, perfect UNIT 3
music – a real pleasure for our eyes and ears. But our
stomachs really didn’t get on with the food – it was so 3.1
undercooked! And what made it worse was that my
friend had no credit card or cash on her, so who do you Thank you all for coming to the presentation of the plan
think had to pay for it all? for our new beautiful Eco-Archipelago holiday resort.
We’ve chosen this name to emphasize the effort we’re
making to create an environmentally-friendly holiday
spot in our fabulous archipelago.
UNIT 2
As you can see from the plan, the resort features two
2.1 modules: the Family neighbourhood on the west, and
the Business lobby on the east. This is because we want
At the beginning of the last century, some language
to make all of our guests feel welcome by creating a
experts advised parents against their children learning
holiday space especially tailored to their personal needs.
a second language. The reason they gave was that
learning a different language while growing up would Two blocks of flats will be built on the north-west and
confuse children’s brains and slow down the natural south-east sides. The north-west block will comprise
development of their first language. what we’ve come to call the family suites, that is, two-

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LEARNING
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to four-bedroom flats equipped with everything that R: And do you and Lina keep in close contact today?
families need in order to have an enjoyable holiday with
J: Well, yes. We try to chat to each other every week
their children.
but since Lina is always so busy, we don’t see each
The executive apartments in the south-eastern section, other that often. When we do meet up I usually
on the other hand, will welcome the busiest of our go to her house and visit her and her family. It’s
clients, those who want to take a break from their easier for both of us that way.
hectic day-to-day lives but need a practically-designed
R: Well, thanks Julia and Lina, wherever you are …
environment equipped with everything they need in
order to relax and work at the same time.
Back to the west module now. This will be connected UNIT 5
to the beach by the west gate. Our guests will have
free ferry access to and from all the islands in the 5.1
archipelago. They’ll be able to access the ferry terminal,
which will be built in the south-west corner, through 1 Carl
the south-west door. Hi. I’m Carl and I’m a nurse. I work alongside doctors
to provide care and treatment to patients. My main task
is to observe patient behaviour and report this data to
UNIT 4 other members of the medical staff. Every member of
our staff does their best to collaborate so that patients
4.1
receive the best care, and most importantly, feel at
home as much as possible.
R = Rob J = Julia
2 Erica
R: And on the phone is Julia who wants to share her
experience of how she reconnected with a long- Hey. I’m Erica and I’m a personal trainer so I help my
lost friend. clients work on their physical fitness, mainly by creating
training programmes adapted to their individual needs
J: Hi Rob. Hi everyone. Yes, I’ve recently reconnected
but also by celebrating their successes. I monitor
with my childhood friend, Lina. I’d lost touch with
their progress and make sure I provide them with the
Lina when we were twelve and she moved to a
necessary motivation to reach their goals.
different area, so, after over twenty years, I sat
down and searched for her online. Her name is 3 Eliana
quite common, so I struggled to find her social
Hi. I’m Eliana. Working with teenagers can be quite
media profile at first. But I finally found her and
challenging, but this is exactly what I love about my
decided to make contact by sending her a short
job. I constantly have to look for engaging materials to
message straight away, asking her how she was
make sure my students are on-task, but also real-world
doing.
topics for them to develop the skills they will need as
R: How long was it before you heard from her? healthy and responsible adults.
J: Lina replied after two months. Her message 4 Marlene
sounded friendly, but not overly excited. It just
Hello. I’m Marlene and I develop programmes that
said, ‘Hi. Happy you got in touch. Talk soon!’ But
help the community. I implement initiatives for schools,
I was serious about reconnecting with her, so I
the elderly or any other group in our community that
suggested meeting for coffee. It took a while to
needs support. This benefits everyone because all our
arrange a convenient time but when we did meet,
initiatives give people the chance to work together to
I understood why it had taken her so long to write
make the community a better place.
back – she runs a successful business and on top
of that she has four kids.

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5 Piotr UNIT 6
Hi. I’m Piotr and I basically assist customers on behalf 6.1
of our client, a wellness brand. I talk on the phone
with them, answering their questions and also H = Host T = Tino
obviously dealing with their complaints. It can get quite
H: Photos, articles and videos: they’re all trying to tell
challenging at times, but I like dealing with difficult
us a story. Unfortunately, though, not all of them
situations, empathizing with dissatisfied customers,
are true. Here with me today is media psychology
giving them time and space to talk and then seeing
expert Tino. Hi Tino. So, what is fake news?
what I can do to turn them into satisfied customers.
T: Hello. There’s quite a variety of fake news, each
type with a different look and purpose. Some are
UNITS 1–5 MID-COURSE simple links that direct you to fake promotions
or similar, whereas others take on a more
MC.1 sophisticated look, like deep fakes, in which a
person pictured in an existing image or video
I’d decided to take a break from the city and go back is replaced with someone or something else to
to the town in the countryside where I grew up. On the provoke a reaction.
bus journey, I tried to remember what life was like there
when I was younger: the short but fun walks to school; H: And can we spot fake news?
the hammering of the craftsmen in their workshops … T: Some materials can be easily spotted, like badly
Once off the bus, though, I realized the place wasn’t photoshopped deep fakes, for example. But other
exactly as I remembered it: the bakery was now a content is more complex to figure out if you don’t
supermarket and the little workshops had turned into pay attention, and with the news being published
bars and restaurants. by the hour and shared by so many people so
Going back to the countryside was just an excuse, quickly, it can be easier to fall for it nowadays.
though. My real objective was to take some time off H: And how good are you at spotting fake news?
and relax after a busy few months at the office. I had
been working day and night on a very difficult project, T: Well, part of my job is to study this phenomenon,
always worrying about how it would turn out. I was but … I’ve recently read about this survey claiming
relieved when my boss confirmed they were satisfied that people who feel confident about spotting
with my job, but the burnout had convinced me that I fake news easily are actually the ones at higher
needed a proper break. risk of falling into the trap of misinformation.
So I’m not sure how to answer that question
Going into my old house, though, was something else. anymore.
The shutters and curtains were open, but the thick
dust on the windows made it almost impossible to see H: Or maybe that was fake news? Last question,
anything inside. But the smell … it just brought back all Tino, can we learn to spot fake news?
the memories from my childhood. T: Absolutely. It’s never too late or too soon. In
I had to do quite a lot of cleaning on the first day, Finland, for example, they start at a very young
but after that, I enjoyed spending time in the house: age. Teachers use fairy tales with smaller children
drinking tea, reading books and old magazines – three and analyze the different characters to see how
weeks of pure relaxation. However, I think the most they lie or cheat to obtain what they want. With
relaxing thing of all for me was walking around town older students, they work with statistics and
and seeing that even with the shops and workshops analyze how easy it is for people to believe them,
gone, the locals did things in the same way – they still even when the stats aren’t true. Critical thinking
moved and talked slowly, as if they were never in a and fact-checking are part of the Finnish school
hurry. Exactly what I needed. curriculum, something that I think all educational
systems should do, in fact.

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UNIT 7 UNIT 8
7.1 8.1

H = Host Ad = Adil An = Anita H = Host N = Nabil

H: Today is the 9th of August, which marks H: Today in the studio we have Nabil who is going to
International Coworking Day. Coworking is a tell us about three pieces of technology that were
simple concept that is basically defined as workers quite popular some decades ago but which seem
from different fields and companies sharing the to have faded away. Isn’t that right, Nabil?
same space. It’s a shared, but at the same time
N: Hi. Yes, but as you’ll learn, some of them are still
independent, working environment. The concept
used today! Let’s start with the fax machine, a
of coworking started in 2005 when Brad Neuberg,
device that sends and receives written messages
a freelance software engineer, wrote a blog post
and images through telephone lines. And fax
inviting other freelancers to come together as
machines are still quite popular today, especially
a community. That was on the 9th of August,
in healthcare. In some countries, in fact, doctors
2005. Today we want to celebrate International
communicate with each other via fax as it’s more
Coworking Day with our listeners, so we’d like to
secure than emailing, preventing other people
know, What do you like most about coworking?
from accessing patients’ private data.
The first phone call is from Adil. Hi Adil!
H: Wow, security’s the reason then. Interesting. Next
Ad: Hi! Yes, I basically got tired of working from
on the list?
home. I started going to coffee shops so that
I could get a feel of … life so to speak. But it N: The pager – the parent of our mobile phone. A
wasn’t really the same, I sort of wanted to be with pager receives and displays numbers or messages,
someone … And that’s why I started coworking. but it doesn’t allow you to text or call back. They
Coworking spaces offer this spirit of community, started being replaced by mobile phones just a
you know? You walk into a coworking space decade after becoming widely used, but they’re
and you can immediately feel it … people from still used in many countries today, especially by
completely different fields sharing experiences, police officers and firefighters. Pagers, in fact,
ideas and so on. seem to allow for quicker but also more secure
communication as they’re harder to be tracked by
H: Thanks Adil!
hackers or any other uninvited guests.
Ad: Thank you!
H: Security again. Makes sense. And which device is
H: And now we have … Anita. Hi Anita! the last one?
An: Hi everyone! I was listening to Adil and yes, N: The floppy disk – basically the ancestor of CD
I’m absolutely with him on this. Community is ROMs and other storage devices which started
certainly important. But the key factor for me and to replace it at the end of the twentieth century.
my team – there are four of us – is definitely the Given its popularity over the years, however, the
affordable space and equipment we get. You see, symbol of the floppy disk still appears in many
my team and I need space to meet and discuss computer applications as the save icon, the one
things, but we also have to meet our clients that users click on when they need to save a file.
sometimes, so we need somewhere to do that.
H: Aha! So even the floppy disk is still alive.
A coworking space costs us very little compared to
what we would spend if we rented a whole office. N: Well, the biggest companies did stop producing
them at the beginning of the 21st century, so …
H: Thank you so much Anita and happy International
no, I wouldn’t say they’re still alive. Anyway, what
Coworking Day!
makes it …
An: Yes! Cheers!
H: And now we have …

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UNIT 9 UNIT 10
9.1 10.1

Speaker 1 A symbol can be verbal or nonverbal, written or

unwritten. It can be anything that has meaning. It can
García Márquez’s writing is so magical. The difficulty
be an object, a word, a sign or an action that helps
was that many characters in One Hundred Years of
people understand each other and the world around
Solitude have the same names, sometimes even the
them.
same surnames. Things can get confusing. Luckily,
there’s a handy family tree at the back of the book that Symbols are specific to each culture – they provide clues
I referred to when I couldn’t remember who was who. for the people that belong to one particular culture
to express themselves and understand each other,
Speaker 2
to convey concrete but also more abstract meanings
In Ulysses, Joyce uses so many different words, from without too much effort.
different languages too. In some pages there’s no
Symbols can in fact represent abstract concepts. A
story at all, just the thoughts of the characters, with
dance, for example, can represent an entire nation –
no beginning and no end, no commas, full stops or
think of the Hula dance in Polynesian culture, which
other punctuation at all, just words. I struggled to
is considered by some as the symbol of the Hawaiian
understand these sections sometimes, but it was worth
people, their land and cultural heritage.
the challenge.
Songs can be symbols. National anthems, for example,
Speaker 3
are songs that are adopted officially by countries as an
Infinite Jest is what the title says, an endless playing expression of national identity. And musical instruments
with words. It’s full of sophisticated words and you may be representative of a culture, too, like the
need a dictionary nearby all the time. Every word counts Highland bagpipes of Scottish culture, for example, or
in the book – its meaning, its sounds. I think the author, the Ecuadorian rondador.
David Foster Wallace, carefully chose the words to make
People can be symbols as well. In Greek mythology,
us reflect on why words are so important.
the Oneiroi were the personifications of dreams. Their
Speaker 4 leader, Morpheus, is still considered the personification
of sleep.
I read The Canterbury Tales in the original version,
the English that people spoke before Shakespeare But let’s now take a quick look at symbols that could
– very different from today’s. It was a challenge I’d have a more universal reach; that is, symbols that are
set for myself. I wanted to read something different, more common across cultures. Animals are a very
something from, well, the past. I had to look up words good example here. The lion, for instance, is widely
online quite a few times, but I loved the book and really considered as a symbol of courage and power … and
enjoyed reading it. the white dove is generally used as a symbol of peace
and calm. And on top of animals there are of course …
Speaker 5
It’s not the longest book I’ve read, but the details …
they are so important in Moby Dick. Some chapters UNITS 6–10 END OF COURSE
are just descriptions of the different types of whales …
their names, their behaviour … the technical words to EOC.1
describe the ship, the tools used on the ship, … things I
didn’t even know existed until I read it. H = Host E = Erin F = Farhad J = Ji-Woo
H: Today we have three guests talking to us about
how technology will impact our working life in
the not-so-distant future. Erin’s a psychologist
specializing in time management.

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E: Hi, yes, we’re always racing against time, aren’t H: Ji-Woo, you’re a workplace well-being manager,
we? Many people waste hours driving to the and you’ve said that there are a lot of incredible
workplace, but in the near future, thanks to technologies that are being integrated.
driverless cars, they’ll be able to use their time in a
J: Yes, from simple software that tells you when
more valuable way while the car drives on its own.
you’ve been in front of your screen for too long
And this isn’t taken from the usual sensational
and need a break, to more complex wearable
tabloid article about futuristic high-tech, but is
gadgets that can monitor your heart rate and
something that I’m sure will soon turn into reality.
blood pressure, for example, and report on your
H: As well as driverless cars, the future will also bring physical and emotional well-being. And having
in more remote working which can make things all this information would help you manage your
easier for some but more dangerous for others. workload more realistically and therefore more
Farhad, you work as an IT security specialist – effectively, because you’ll be in a better place to
what do you think? know how much you can achieve on a particular
day and how long it takes to complete a particular
F: Well, yes, the technology available today makes it
task. It may well be that some professions …
easy to do our work without leaving the comfort
of our own home – we can share and work on
the same online documents at the same time, we
can create and deliver presentations wherever
we are and much more. Also, the more remote
working we do, the fewer face-to-face meetings
we have with colleagues and clients. This will
lead companies to either have fewer offices or
no offices at all, and professionals to use shared
workspaces less often. We are all quite aware
of this already, so it won’t take us long to find a
proper balance between face-to-face and virtual
interaction.

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