Upper Intermediate and Advanced English Listening audio lessons with REAL ENGLISH CONVERSATIONS. These audio lessons are suitable for B2 and C1 students and will help with your Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE), IELTS and Cambridge Advanced English (CAE) exams.
How many?Katie gives Tom a number — seventy-five — and he works through birthdays, a grandparent’s age, pairs of shoes and even ice creams before the penny drops. When it does, we get one of our more honest moments on tape: “I can’t believe I’m admitting on…on a recording device …
How green are you?Everyone we asked said they recycle. Almost everyone then admitted they fly far too much. That gap — between what people believe and what they actually do — is what makes this unit worth listening to. Katie calls herself “a bit of a hypocrite”. Amanda finishes her …
What’s in your basket?You go in for toilet roll and you come out with forty-six rolls. That’s what happens when you’re a sucker for a BOGOF, as one of our hosts cheerfully admits in this episode — and the other one has never even heard the word. “You’ve never heard …
Buy me, buy me!Katie can still sing every word of a carpet freshener advert from the 1980s: “You do the Shake and Vac and put the freshness back”. She admits she has no idea whether it worked, only that it was memorable. That’s the starting point for this episode — …
Time off…A wet grey beach in the south west of England, covered in little coils of sand left by burrowing animals, and a small boy “screaming at the top of my voice thinking there were squiggly worms everywhere”. That’s Alec’s first memory of a family holiday — and his family …
Listen nowZapp! English Listening 3.28 – Holidays (Vacations)
Places to see before you die…Tom sets a trap in the first thirty seconds: name the Seven Wonders of the World, and no looking. Chris manages the Great Wall and the pyramids, then stalls — and it turns out there are fourteen to remember, seven ancient and seven modern. “No …
Listen nowZapp! English Listening 3.27 – Wonders of the World
Yum or yuk?Asked whether she’s a good cook, Molly answers with one word — “No.” — and then adds, “End of story for that one.” A minute later she notices what she’s doing: “That’s twice I’ve said end of story.” That’s what happens when you ask a group of people …
Erm – I forgot…Katie asks whether anyone forgets people’s birthdays. Stuart answers “Always.” Tom adds “Everyone’s.” Then Katie admits she has “been known, to forget my mum’s and my dad’s birthdays” and says, with some pride, “Beat that!” That is roughly the level of competence on display for the next …
Liar, liar, pants on fire…A black and white striped blouse with see-through black lace sleeves, a huge bow on the front and enormous gold buttons. It was a kind gift, offered by a colleague, and one of our speakers admits it “just sent me into a huge rage”. That story …
Don’t mention…the fishKatie hands Tom and Stuart a list of subjects people can’t agree on, and the first one is swearing. Within a minute they’ve decided it isn’t really controversial any more — on a bus in England, Katie reckons, “probably one in four words” is a swear word. Then …
Listen nowZapp! English Listening 3.23 – Controversial Issues