lunes, 28 de septiembre de 2015

Listening test: Office life

Listen to Steve and Helen discuss six office-related situations and choose the option a, b or c which best answers each question. 0 is an example.



Conversation One
1. Who is going to go to Brussels?
a) William and Charlie.
b) Barry and Susan.
c) Barry and Charlie.

Conversation Two
2. Why did Harbon Industries win the contract?
a) They promised something Helen and Steve’s company couldn’t.
b) They made a promise to build a new factory.
c) Their factory construction deal was cheaper.

Conversation Three
3. What device is Steve trying to use?
a) Photocopier
b) Laminator
c) Scanner

Conversation Four
4. What is Helen’s biggest concern?
a. The deal is going to be cancelled.
b. There isn’t enough time to do everything.
c. She has to write the proposal.

Conversation Five
5. Why does Helen think that the relocation meeting was a waste of time?
a. Because she’s not interested in moving house.
b. Because everything’s already been decided.
c. Because she needs to spend her time looking for a new job.

Conversation Six
6. What does Steve find frustrating about the situation?
a. There seems to be some duplication in the file organization.
b. That Helen didn’t save the file where she should have.
c. That somebody has lost the documents.

a laminator: a device to apply plastic on posters, photos and documents to preserve them

Conversation One
Steve: Do you know who is going to Brussels for the product launch?
Helen: Barry and Susan, I think.
Steve: Barry needs to stay here to prepare next year's budget. William told me Charlie would be going.
Helen: Oh, now I remember. It's Susan who has to prepare the budget so it must be Barry he'll accompany.
Conversation Two
Helen: Did you hear we didn't get the ComTel contract?
Steve: I don't believe it. What on earth happened?
Helen: They told us that the costing of the factory construction was too expensive.
Steve: I suppose Harbon Industries won it, did they?
Helen: Yes, they were willing to guarantee that the factory would be built in Egypt and that swung the deal.
Conversation Three
Steve: Do you have any idea how this works?
Helen: Switch it on using the red button. Wait until the green light shows, which means it's hot enough. Then slide the document in and it comes out the other side.

Steve: I need to use a plastic sleeve, don't I?
Helen: Yes, put the document inside it.
Conversation Four
Helen: Tomorrow is Monday the fourth, isn't it? That's the deadline for the Spain project. We'll never get it finished in time.
Steve: What are you worried about? The deadline isn't until Friday. That's the eighth.
Helen: Steve, what are you talking about? Didn't you get the memo changing the deadline? I thought we were going to cancel the project and, instead, we have to get it done by tomorrow. There's too much to do still: the sales projection, wages, overheads and somebody has to write the proposal.
Steve: Look, I spoke to Mr. González yesterday and he said it would be fine to wait until the end of the week. We've got nearly a week.
Conversation Five

Steve: Did you go to the meeting about relocating next year?
Helen: I did. Some people got a bit hot under the collar.
Steve: How come?
Helen: Well, the management is presenting this as something that is really exciting, but I'm not sure that everybody sees it that way.
Steve: What did you say, Helen?
Helen: I said that meetings like that are a huge waste because nothing we say will change anybody's mind. I think we will have to find a new job or move house.
Conversation Six
Steve: I'm looking for the file we were working on the last week, you know, the Woodward contract.
Helen: It should be in the folder, "Germany".
Steve: Why do we have a folder called Germany when there is also a folder called Europe. That's the type of confusion which results in lost documents. Are you sure it hasn't been deleted? It's not in the Germany folder.
Helen: I don't know what to say. I wasn't the last one to work on it.
Steve: Oh, look, it's sitting here on the desktop. Someone must have saved it there by mistake.

KEY:
1C 2A 3B 4B 5B 6A