The IELTS listening fill in the blanks only practice test – YouTube Dictation Transcript & Vocabulary

1.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

2.section one first you have some time to look at questions one to five 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 one to five good afternoon and welcome to my talk on urban migration today the world has experienced unprecedented urban growth in the recent decades as much as three percent of earth's land mass has been urbanized an increase of at least 50 percent over previous estimates today people living in cities already outnumber those in rural areas and the trend does not appear to be reversing in addition cities have larger amounts of carbon consumption than rural areas this is a result from two major aspects first with the increase of urban population around the world the massive construction of urban infrastructure and residential housing is hard to avoid second urban households have a higher rate of car ownership and use more gasoline products even though rural exodus is often negatively judged there are also benefits of migration shared by the local environment and the society as a whole well firstly global trends of increasing urban migration and population urbanization can provide opportunities for nature conservations particularly in regions where deforestation is driven by agriculture as rural dwellers leave their homes local forests are left to recover what's more it is easier for city dwellers to get around living in the country means transport can be very difficult for instance after midnight there are no buses or taxis in the countryside however there is still a number of public transport modes to choose from in the city finally with more funds and advanced technology cities endeavor to produce clean energy new power plants have been built to take harmful methane gas created by the decomposition of rubbish and converted into electricity by doing so an important greenhouse gas is turned into useful energy rather than being directly emitted into the atmosphere the hustle and bustle of city life offers women the opportunity to explore different professions and pursue their own careers women in cities work as engineers managers and even football players this change of roles has affected their marital status and family life more women are choosing their careers over marriage which raises the graph of late marriages as a result more are remaining single well into their late thirties they want to be independent and earn money on their own it is also easier for them to get a promotion while working in the city women are slowly achieving wider participation at work while in rural areas the mindset is still very conservative before you hear the rest of the conversation you have some time to look at questions six to ten now listen and answer questions six to ten however cities also change the way that humans interact with each other and the environment often causing multiple problems in general urban wages are significantly higher so moving to the city is an opportunity to earn what was impossible in rural areas however the wage difference is often offset by the higher cost of living and absence of self-produced goods including substance farming a sizable proportion of new corners attach greater importance to money and gradually abandon their former way of life thus risking losing their culture these new city residents are also faced with another problem according to statistics crime rates are significantly higher in densely populated urban regions than in rural areas for instance property crime rates in our metropolitan areas are three to four times as high in comparison to the rates in rural communities immigrants upon arrival into cities typically move into the poor blighted neighborhoods because that is where they can afford to live crime in these areas is high and reflects poor living conditions as these neighborhoods experience great levels of poverty this pattern also occurs for violent crimes which is much more common in large urban areas than elsewhere in addition traffic congestion and industrial manufacturing are prominent features of the urban landscape which take their toll on the natural environment and those who depend on it air pollution from both cars and factory emissions affect the health of countless urban residents rural to urban migration can boost the urban economy with a better economy cities provide their residents with better welfare but the concentration of services and facilities such as education health and technology in urban areas inevitably contributes to greater energy consumption another problem with life in the city is traffic congestion it makes people late to work and thus stresses us out before we even get there deliveries can't arrive on time gas costs money the quality of life of those commuters starts to decline what's worse is that if congestion makes it harder to match the right workers to the best jobs it is economically inefficient as well that is the end of section one you now have half a minute to check your answers now turn to section two section two first you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16

3.now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 16

4.first of all i would like to thank you for enrolling in this optional ethics course for some time now i've been pushing to have it made compulsory for all first-year university students and you'll soon see why today's topic is cheating for as long as there have been tests assignments and examinations there has been cheating of some form or another how do we define cheating well quite simply some say it's a violation of the regulations but what is that set of laws who composed them and are they reasonable interestingly a survey of year 7 to 12 students last year showed that over a third of them cheated by cell phone during a test some by texting answers and a much smaller percentage by searching the internet over half yes over half of the survey's participants admitted to cheating of some kind but and this is the thing many of the students didn't even acknowledge web-based cheating as cheating at all most thought that phone cheating or downloading a paper off the net was nothing other than a minor offense so what's the implication if it's not a serious offense is it acceptable we live in a digital age where learning is all about sharing information and let's face it students today have seen so many instances of music videos images and text copied online without rightful recognition given us to their origin that i'm not sure whether you even fully understand the concept of plagiarism but we can't blame the digital age alone i know that ours is a high-stakes education system by that i mean there is a great deal to be won or lost by a good or bad grade if we scrutinize the system we may well affirm that cheating isn't really dishonest it's merely a survival skill for many teachers and students it's the product that counts not the process by process i mean the way it is produced you see when learning becomes nothing more than information sharing knowledge or data aren't figured out and understood they're just retrieved and passed on how much is actually absorbed when we discuss cheating we must look at the educational environment as well as the morality or lack of it researchers have found that environments conducive to cheating are those where the focus is wrong sometimes instructors have no meaningful relationship with their students perhaps due to overcrowded classrooms and lecture halls or individual personalities secondly students who cheat are most often the ones who think the task is pointless or the amount of work is overwhelming if the classroom is a place where learning is genuinely engaging and the emphasis is on openly exploring ideas there would be no necessity for cheating a third and very important point is that grades and marks matter more to some students than what they're doing and lastly achievement is taken to mean outperforming others and these competitive practices encourage cheating before you hear the rest of the talk you have some time to look at questions 17 to 20

5.now listen and answer questions 17 to 20