Academic Test 4 listening FEMALE

The transcription is a set of instructions for a listening test. Section 1 is about making an international money transfer using an online banking system. Section 2 is about a proposed plan for the redevelopment of a town center, including enlarging a supermarket, creating a pedestrian mall, and adding new buildings. Section 3 is a conversation between a business studies lecturer and a student preparing for a seminar on corporate cultures. There is no section 4 mentioned. Test 4. 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 sections. At the end of the test you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet. Now turn to section 1. Section 1. You will hear a telephone conversation between a bank representative and a client who wants to make an international money transfer. First you have some time to look at questions 1 to 6. You will see that there is an example that has been done for you. On this occasion only, the conversation relating to this example will be played first. Wesley Bank, how can I help you? Oh, hi. I want to know how to send money to my family overseas. No problem. If you have access to the internet I can guide you through the process of how to use our global payment system. The bank representative says she will tell the man how to use the global payment system. So global payments have been written in the space. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 6. Wesley Bank, how can I help you? Oh, hi. I want to know how to send money to my family overseas. No problem. If you have access to the internet I can guide you through the process of how to use our global payment system. That's great. I'm online now. Good. First you have to log on to Wesley Bank Internet Banking and select transfer money. Okay. Once you've done that select international money transfer. I don't see... It's the first option under the heading of international services. Right, I found it. Now click on payment destination country and scroll down to the location you wish to send money to. It's all in alphabetical order. Oh yes, Zimbabwe. I've got it right at the bottom. Good. Then step three is to fill in your personal details. Name, address and contact phone number. Uh-huh, done that. When I put in my phone number my other details popped up automatically. Yes, that will happen but take a moment just to check that everything is correct. Then we'll move on to transaction details. So this is where I select the account that the money comes out of? Yes, you have a transaction account, a savings account and a business account. Which one did you want to choose? It had better be my savings account. Okay, have you clicked on that? Yes, but next it says enter a payment reason. Why do I have to give a reason? Ah well, I'm afraid that's a legal requirement. You can't send money overseas without a valid reason. My mother needs to pay for an urgent medical procedure and I have to pay for my sister's school fees as well. Will that do? Yes, both are valid reasons. Thanks. What now? The next step is to fill in the recipient account details. Sorry? You need to enter the account name and number of the person who will receive the money. Oh I see, of course. But I haven't got that information with me at the moment. I'm at the office and those details are at home. Don't worry, you can return to this page and fill it in later. You can save what you've done so far and defer completion. Don't leave it too long though, the system will hold it for no more than two days. After 48 hours you'll have to start over again. That's fine, I can do it this evening. Is there much more? After the account details you'll need to fill in the bank details of the person you're transferring money to. The name, branch and address of the bank. That should be easy enough. Anything else? No, once you've completed everything a confirmation page will appear. Just ensure all the information you've entered is correct and press submit. Then print off the receipt page. If you haven't got a printer at home just make a note of your transaction reference number. 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. When can my family expect the money? Will they get it within the next five days? It takes three days to process but of course we can't be responsible for any delays arriving from the recipient bank. I understand and is there a charge for internet transfers? When I did this through a teller at the bank last year, I was told that the bank would When I did this through a teller at the bank last year, I was charged $40. It does cost more to use a teller but the Wesley Bank will only deduct $30 from your account per online international transaction. However, we have no control over any fees that may be charged by other financial institutions at the receiving end. How much can I send in one transaction? Well that depends on your bank balance but assuming you have enough funds, the upper limit is $10,000. By the way, you'll need to use a special security token to transfer more than $5,000. You mean my secret password? You'll definitely need that but you'll also need a security token. That is a special code that the bank gives you. Just call into your local branch with photo ID and they will arrange it for you. Is there anything else I can help you with or do you have any more questions? No, thank you. That's all I need to know for now. That is the end of section 1. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to section 2. Section 2. You will hear a town councillor talking about a plan for the redevelopment of the Bayfield Town Centre. First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 17. Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 17. Good evening. I've been asked to speak to you about the proposed plan for the improvement of our town centre. As you know, there was extensive community consultation before the designers were engaged. I'm sure you'll agree that a great many of your concerns have been acknowledged and incorporated into the draft plan that you see before you. Firstly, you'll notice that the existing supermarket has been enlarged. It's the biggest building you see on the plan on the south side of the Main Street Mall. You can see that the part of Main Street in the town centre has been turned into a pedestrian mall. We're planning extensive plantings of shrubs and small trees to provide shade. There will be plenty of parking for supermarket shoppers on the west side of the building and a few spaces to the south facing the park. The park will not be touched except for the addition of a small artificial lake which we hope will attract ducks and other bird life. We've taken into account your petition not to expand the tavern. I know some of you wanted it removed from the town centre altogether so it will be discreetly screened from public view by more trees. The existing car park at the rear of the tavern will remain. Opposite the tavern on the other side of Main Street there will be a covered market. The Saturday farmers market is hugely popular but stallholders have suffered from a lot of bad weather recently. We think everyone will be happy with this part of the redevelopment. These two rectangular buildings here in the middle of the plan are new. We plan to demolish the existing shops some of which are unsound anyway and put up these two modern buildings instead. The one across Bay Road from the market will house boutiques, delicatessens, and other specialty shops all under one roof. The other one to the west will contain offices so you'll have convenient access to all the professionals in town inside one building. The swimming pool will remain where it is of course. The school is a major user of the pool so to make it safer for students to cross Swan Road a pedestrian crossing will be installed in front of the school gymnasium. You can see we've planned a gap in the trees here on the Main Street Mall so that students will be able to walk across the Main Street Mall straight to the pool. Another pedestrian crossing to the west of the pool will give students and other users safer access to the new library here. Library users will be able to share the supermarket parking. We expect that Swan Road may become a busier thoroughfare once the Main Street has been converted to pedestrians only but we'll address that issue in the second stage of the development. In the meantime the east end of Swan Road will be converted into a public car park here between the council building and the market. Before you hear the rest of the conversation you have some time to look at questions 18 to 20. Now listen and answer questions 18 to 20. I'll deal with any questions you may have at the end of this talk. In the meantime I'll give you some idea of what the second stage of development will involve. In line with the overwhelming concern of Bayfield inhabitants improved public transport is definitely public transport is definitely at the forefront of the next stage. We're planning to develop a modern transportation hub on the outskirts of town. Another issue we want to address is the lack of playgrounds and sporting facilities. These could be part of stage two depending on the council's ability to purchase appropriate sites. As I mentioned earlier traffic may become a problem in Swan Road. Once Main Street has been blocked off the council will study the speed flow and density of vehicles on Swan Road and decide on appropriate measures. I know the council's preference would be to install traffic lights either side of the pedestrian crossing but they'll consider other options to alleviate traffic problems like diverting non-essential vehicles to a back road. Are there any questions? That is the end of section two. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Now turn to section three. Section three you will hear a conversation between a lecturer in business studies and a student Blair who is preparing for a seminar on corporate cultures. First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26. Hello Blair. Come in and take a seat. Now are you ready for the seminar on Friday? I think so. Good. What aspect of business have you decided on for your presentation? I thought I'd talk about corporate culture. There are many facets of corporate culture. You're not going to try to cover them all are you? No. I've been reading research by Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron and they put forward a model of just four distinctive corporate cultures. It's called the competing values framework. Good. Where do you want to start? I'll start by talking about the hierarchy culture. This is found in a business that observes formal rules, regulations and bureaucracy. How do the leaders achieve this? Well in such a structured and controlled environment, leaders usually take pride in running stable, organised and efficient operations. In fact this may even be part of their mission statement. They rely on their power, status and the importance of their position to manage their workers. What sort of company is most likely to have a hierarchy culture? Well a few smaller firms might have some of the elements of the hierarchy culture in their day-to-day operations but on the whole I think this culture is typical of government bodies and big corporations. Very good. What's next? I'll then move on to discuss market culture. Very popular in the 1960s I believe and quite similar to the hierarchy culture in that it also emphasises stability and control. Yes but the main point of difference is that market culture attaches a great deal of importance to external relationships with stakeholders such as customers, suppliers and creditors. Why are these particular associations important to a market culture? I suppose because successful interactions with these people would increase the company's productivity. Do you know whether this practice does have the desired effect? Well according to studies carried out by Angelo Kineke and his colleagues in the School of Business at Arizona State University. Yes, where was I? Oh right. Kineke and the others revealed that this culture type tended to generate the greatest financial results, probably as a result of their focus on competition and achievement. Before you hear the rest of the conversation you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30. All right, now what's next? Clan culture. You know, I think I'd like to work in a clan culture. Oh yes, why is that? Well, a clan culture is more like a family than a rigid structured organisation. What do you mean by like a family? Well, it's more focused on teamwork and morale. It's probably not surprising that this type of culture results in the greatest level of satisfaction among employees. What about the internal structure of a clan type business? It's quite flat really, nothing like the hierarchy type we talked about before. There's usually just a single leader or owner whose role is quite paternalistic and he, although I suppose it could be a she, would act as a mentor, guiding, nurturing and encouraging employees. I can see that ongoing employee training would be characteristic of this kind of business. Definitely, and in a company like this loyalty would be very important. Also, management would want to know that everyone within the company had the same ideas and objectives. You know, my brother works for a company like this and he absolutely loves his job and puts everything into it. He's extremely loyal and devoted and thinks he's very lucky. He probably is lucky to have a job he enjoys. Yes, well, he's better off there than in an adhocracy culture. But adhocracy does appeal to a certain type of person. Yes, if you're adaptable and don't mind lots of changes all the time. What's most important in an adhocracy culture? It would have to be flexibility and innovation and the ability to react swiftly to a changing market, competition or other factors in the external environment. What kind of leadership would you expect in this culture? They would be entrepreneurs who welcome change, are not afraid of taking risks and are always seeking gross opportunities. Workers would be urged to try out new ideas and not sit back taking things for granted. To an outsider, especially someone from a hierarchy culture, this kind of culture might look a bit chaotic and disordered, but it's innovative, forward-looking and adjusts rapidly to change. Okay Blair, I think you've got the basics of a good presentation and you've responded well to my questions. Just one further question and then I'll let you go. That is the end of section three. You now have half a minute to check your answers. Thank you. Thank you. Now turn to section four. Section four. You will hear a lecture on the environmental effects of pesticides and some alternatives to their use. First you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. Good evening. I'm here today to present the findings from our research into pesticides. And alternatives to using them. I'd like to begin by talking about some of the environmental effects of pesticide use. As most of you will be aware, pesticides have proven to be very harmful to our environment. The principal reason for this is because nearly all pesticides travel beyond their target areas. This often happens when rain carries pesticides along water channels, such as rivers, where they are then transported downstream. In other situations, particularly when they are dropped by plane, the wind blows pesticides into wild areas where they are not wanted. These areas can be up to several kilometers away. We also need to think about the effects of pesticides on animals. Pesticides can cause illness and even death in many animals, including birds and aquatic life. Animals can also be affected, however, when pesticide use eliminates their food source and causes them to starve or migrate to other areas. When pesticides don't travel into neighboring environments, they tend to seep into the soil. There they degrade the quality of the soil, and in addition they can weaken biodiversity. Studies of pesticide-contaminated soil show a much lower count of organisms compared to healthy soils. There's a final consideration to take into account, and that's the environmental effects of pesticides in terms of pest numbers. In the short term, pesticides significantly reduce the number of pests in an area, as might be expected. After long-term regular use, however, insects tend to become immune to certain kinds of pesticide and are no longer negatively affected by them. As the number of insecticide-resistant pests grows, this creates the need for new varieties of pesticide and further exacerbates the pesticide problem. Let's move on now to look at some possible alternatives to pesticide use. As I'll explain, although these techniques can help reduce our dependence on pesticides, they do have their own drawbacks, too. The first technique will be familiar to any of you who have even a small vegetable garden at home. You see a slug on a piece of lettuce, and what do you do? Put on some gloves, walk right up to the plant, and pick the slug off with your hands. This is called hand-picking. Hand-picking is remarkably effective and requires little in the way of money to implement. But while it may be sufficient for the home gardener, the time-consuming nature of hand-picking makes it unsuitable for large-scale operations. Owners of larger crops and orchards require a more systematic approach to pest management, and they have a few options here. You may be familiar with a technique known as biological control. This involves the strategic use of what we call good insects, that is, insects which eat pests rather than plants. When they eat the pests, they also protect the crop environment. Unfortunately, biological control is always risky because we can never know for sure how insects will behave in a particular environment, and the results are therefore unpredictable. A safer option is companion planting, where certain plants are grown together. Garlic, for example, fends off spider mites and aphids, and basil drives away the tomato hornworm, making it a good companion for tomatoes. This is because some varieties of plant can repel specific breeds of insects, so planting them alongside and around more vulnerable vegetables will discourage the insects from coming near. Of course, all these extra plants begin fighting for space and competing with the protected plants for access to water and nutrients in the soil. A final possibility is crop rotation. This involves alternating plants every harvest, which forces insects to migrate in an attempt to locate their food source. Crop rotation is unappealing for large-scale commercial operations, however, because the high cost of constantly changing crops cuts into their profits. As you can see, there's still no easy answer to the question of how to keep plants free from the scourge of pests. I'm happy to take any questions. That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers. you That is the end of the listening test.