Section 1 Audio script: Catherine: Hi Julia, how are you? Julia: Hi Catherine. Im fine. How are you?

Where did you go last week? I called at your number and it was your answering machine that replied. C: well, I went to my ancestral house in Avon. J: thats great. What did you see that? C: oh, it was a great week. The county came into formal existence on 1 April 1974 when the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect. The new county consisted of the areas of: The county boroughs of Bristol and Bath, Part of the Administrative County of Gloucestershire: Kingswood Urban District, Mangotsfield Urban District Warmley Rural District, most of Sodbury Rural District and most of Thornbury Rural District Part of the Administrative County of Somerset: Municipal Borough of Weston-super-Mare Clevedon Urban District, Keynsham Urban District, Norton-Radstock Urban District, Portishead Urban District, Bathavon Rural District, Long Ashton Rural District, part of Axbridge Rural District and part of Clutton Rural District. The county was divided into six districts. Bristol and Bath had identical boundaries to the former county boroughs. In the north the urban districts of Kingswood and Mangotsfield formed a single District of Kingswood, with the rest of the areas transferred from Gloucestershire becoming Northavon. In the south, there were two districts, Woodspring, on the coast, and Wansdyke, in the interior. J: ok. C: To the north the county bordered Gloucestershire, to the east Wiltshire and to the south Somerset. In the west it had a coast on the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel. The area of Avon was 1,347 square kilometres (520 sq mi) and its population in 1991 was 919,800. Cities and towns in Avon included (in approximate order of population) Bristol, Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Yate, Clevedon, Portishead, Midsomer Norton & Radstock, Bradley Stoke, Nailsea, Yatton, Keynsham and Thornbury.

J: well, i will come in the evening today to your house. Let me listen to the detail of your trip then. C: alright. Bye. J: bye. Supply the gaps with the correct information as you hear the conversation. A. Catherine went to _____1_____. B. She has her _____2_____ there. She went there for a _____3_____. C. The county came into formal existence on _____4_____ when the Local Government Act _____5_____ came into effect. D. The county was divided into _____6_____ districts. E. The area of _____7_____ was _____8_____ square kilometres (520 sq mi) and its population in _____9_____ was 919,800. F. Julia will come to _____10_____ to listen to the detail of the trip.

Section 2 Audio script: REMEDIOS: You may say what you like, Don Cosme, I can't agree that Teresina is quite as complex as you think she is, and I'm certainly not subject to illusions. I know the World; I'm not an ingenuous child; I say I'm not because, good Lord! no widow has any business to be one. Although I must admit that as far as years go, and in looks and manner, I am still something of a child. But that's because of certain characteristics. Don't you think so? Why don't you speak? You understand my character? [Turning toward DON COSME and looking carefully at him.] Good Lord! the man's asleep again! Up at ten this morning, it's now eleven. And he sleeps! No, sir! I must have somebody to talk to. Teresina is in the garden flirting with the two of them--spinning like a planet between her two poles, Juan and Eugenio. Don Pablo has gone on his usual walk. Don Hilarion? No one knows where he is! Here I am left alone with Don Cosme, and he sleeps, leaving me in full monologue. I won't stand it! I came to this house on the express condition that I should not be bored, and the condition is not being fulfilled. The place is beautiful--Art, Oh! plenty of Art--pictures, tapestry, statues, bronzes, porcelains; and Nature, Oh! a great deal of Nature, woods and flowers and lakes and water-falls and sunsets! But all that's not enough. There is no Life! No warmth! As they say nowadays, the warmth of humanity. And he goes on sleeping! This life is giving that man softening of the brain. Don Cosme! Oh, Don Cosme! [Striking him with her fan] Open your eyes! Fill in the gaps with the appropriate information. A. You may say what you like, _____11_____, I can't agree that _____12_____ is quite as complex as you think she is, and I'm certainly not subject to _____13_____. I know the World; I'm not an _____14_____ child; I say I'm not because, good Lord! no widow has any business to be one.

Although I must admit that as far as years go, and in _____15_____, I am still something of a child. But that's because of certain _____16_____. B. I must have somebody to talk to. Teresina is in the garden flirting with the two of them-spinning like a planet between her two poles, _____17_____. Don ____18_____ has gone on his usual walk. Don _____19_____? No one knows where he is! Here I am left alone with Don Cosme, and he sleeps, leaving me in full _____20______. Section 3 Audio script: The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about 50 miles (80 km) north-by-east of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the city. Cambridge is well known as the home of the University of Cambridge. The university includes the renowned Cavendish Laboratory, King's College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library. The Cambridge skyline is dominated by the last two buildings, along with the chimney of Addenbrooke's Hospital in the far south of the city and St John's College Chapel tower in the north. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the city's population was 108,863 (including 22,153 students), and the population of the urban area (which includes parts of the neighbouring South Cambridgeshire district) is estimated to be 130,000. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the size of the city was greatly increased by several large council estates planned to hold London overspill. The biggest impact has been on the area north of the river, which are now the estates of Arbury, East Chesterton and King's Hedges, and there are many smaller estates to the south of the city. In 1962 Cambridge's first shopping arcade, Bradwell's Court, opened on Drummer Street, though this was demolished in 2006. Other shopping arcades followed at Lion Yard, which housed a relocated Central Library for the city, and the Grafton Centre which replaced Victorian housing stock which had fallen into disrepair in the Kite area of the city. Both of these projects met strong opposition at the time. The city gained its second University in 1992 when Anglia Polytechnic became Anglia Polytechnic University. Renamed Anglia Ruskin University in 2005, the institution has its origins in the Cambridge School of Art opened in 1858 by John Ruskin. The Open University also has a presence in the city, with an office operating on Hills Road. Despite having a university, Cambridge was not granted its city charter until 1951. Cambridge does not have a cathedral, traditionally a prerequisite for city status, instead falling within the Church of England Diocese of Ely. Many of the buildings in the centre are colleges affiliated to the University of Cambridge, including King's College and Magdalene College. Colleges such as Trinity College and St John's College own significant land both in Cambridge and outside: Trinity is the landlord for the Cambridge Science

Park, and also the port of Felixstowe; St John's is the landlord of St John's Innovation Centre next door to the Science Park, and many other buildings in the city centre. Cambridge City Council plans to renew the area around the Corn Exchange concert hall, and plans for a permanent ice-skating rink are being considered after the success of a temporary one that has been on Parker's Piece every year for the past few years. New housing and developments have continued through the 21st century, with estates such as the CB1 and Accordia schemes near the station, and developments such as Clayfarm and Trumpington Meadows planned for the south of the city. Fill in the blanks with the correct information. Do not write more than three words in a blank. A. Cambridge is well known as the home of the _____21_____. B. The university includes the renowned _____22_____ Laboratory, King's College Chapel, and the Cambridge _____23_____. C. The Cambridge skyline is dominated by the _____24_____, along with the chimney of _____25_____ Hospital in the far south of the city and _____26_____ Chapel tower in the north. D. Renamed Anglia Ruskin University in _____27____, the institution has its origins in the Cambridge School of Art opened in 1858 by _____28_____. E. Many of the buildings in the centre are colleges affiliated to the University of Cambridge, including King's College and Magdalene College. F. Colleges such as Trinity College and St John's College own significant land both in Cambridge and outside: Trinity is the landlord for the Cambridge Science Park, and also the port of _____29_____; St John's is the landlord of St John's Innovation Centre next door to the _____30_____, and many other buildings in the city centre.

Section 4 Audio script: On Nov. 8, the first phones running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 will hit the U.S. The update to the venerable mobile operating system formerly known as Windows Mobile is bulging with fresh ideas a clever alternative to Apple's iPhone and handsets that run Google's Android, not a clone. Even so, with other contenders so well established and Windows Phone 7 missing key features such as cutting and pasting and full multitasking, Microsoft remains a decided underdog in the smart-phone wars.

Hold on Microsoft an underdog? The company whose software has defined the PC industry for as long as there's been a PC industry? The one whose record results for its first quarter, announced last week, included $3.3 billion in profits for Windows and another $3.4 billion for business applications like Office? Yes, indeed. With Windows and Office maintaining their awe-inspiring market shares, Microsoft has the past of computing all sewn up. It's the future boom markets like Web services and mobile operating systems where its position is shaky. The arrival of Windows Phone 7 is one of several encouraging developments, but the company is still grappling with the odd conundrum of turning 35 years of wild success into an asset rather than an albatross. It wasn't always this way. Once upon a time, Microsoft used the dominance of Windows and Office to bulldoze its way into new territories, gleefully trammeling over any company that dared get in its way. In the mid-1990s, for instance, Netscape's free Web browser became the hottest software around; Microsoft responded by bundling its own Internet Explorer with Windows as a freebie and encouraging sites to add features that worked only in Internet Explorer. The strategy, replicated in multiple variations elsewhere, was known as embrace and extend. (Inside Microsoft, reportedly, it was sometimes called embrace, extend and extinguish that last step being what it let the company do to rivals.) But a funny thing happened in this century: embracing and extending turned out to be a deeply flawed business strategy, and not just because its use against Netscape led to the epic court case known as United States v. Microsoft. There were hints it was getting rusty as early as a decade ago, when Bill Gates declared that he believed tablet computers would outsell traditional laptops within half a decade. It was a visionary prediction, as if Gates could see the iPad era coming years before the iPad existed. However, Microsoft's Windows-centric recipe for tablets modify the operating system slightly for pen input, then cram a PC into a slate-style case was profoundly unsatisfying. Consumers noticed and stayed away in droves. Fill in the gaps with the correct data from the passage you hear. A. With _____31_____ maintaining their awe-inspiring market shares, _____32_____ has the past of computing all sewn up. B. Embracing and _____33_____ turned out to be a deeply _____34_____ business strategy. C. Its use against Netscape led to the epic court case known as _____35_____ v. Microsoft. D. Once upon a time, Microsoft used the dominance of Windows and Office to _____36_____ its way into _____37_____. E. In the mid-_____38_____ Netscape's free _____39_____ became the hottest software around. F. On Nov. 8, the first phones running Microsoft's _____40_____ will hit the U.S.