Listening Part C: The questions (Skill 10)

Previous article: Strategy For Listening Part C

It is very helpful to your ability to answer individual questions in Listening Part C if you can anticipate what the questions will be and listen specifically for the answers to those questions (as you did in Listening Part B).

Example

In your test book, you read:

(A) For a week

(B) Since yesterday

(C) For two days

(D) Since 10:00 this morning

You try to anticipate the question:

How long has (something) been going on?

Analysis:

• In this example, you can be quite certain that one of the questions will be about how long something has been going on. Since you are sure that this is one of the questions, you can listen carefully for clues that will give you the answer. 
• This example shows that a helpful strategy in Listening Part C (just as in Listening Part B) therefore is to look briefly at the answers in the test book, before you actually hear the talks on the recording, and try to determine the questions that you will be asked to answer.

EXERCISE 10: Study the following answers and try to determine what the ques tions will be. (You should note that perhaps you will only be able to predict part of a question, rather than the complete question.) If you cannot predict the question in a short period of time, then move on to the next group of answers. Question 1 has been answered for you.

1. Question: What type of plant is this?

   (A) A beautiful plant.
   (B) A poisonous plant.
  (C) A delicious plant.
  (D) A fast-growing plant.

2. Question: ...............................................?

   (A) In vegetable gardens.
   (B) Only in the United States.
   (C) In supermarkets.
   (D) In many different places.

3. Question:................................................?

    (A) Its leaves resemble parsley.
    (B) It grows next to carrots.
    (C) Its leaves are shaped like carrots.
    (D) It does not have roots.

4. Question: .....................................................?

    (A) The person may die.
    (B) The person may get lots of healthful nutrients.
    (C) The person may enjoy it and want more.
    (D) The person may become dangerous.

5. Question:.....................................................?

    (A) A story-writing contest.
    (B) A frog-catching contest.
   (C) A singing contest.
   (D) A frog-jumping contest.

6. Question: ...................................................?

    (A) Sixty-three.
    (B) Two hundred.
   (C) Two thousand.
   (D) Forty thousand.

7. Question:....................................................?

    (A) One.
    (B) Two.
    (C) Three.
    (D) Four.

8. Question:.....................................................?

    (A) The contest took place for years before Twain wrote about it...
    (B) Twain wrote about the contest while he was watching it for the first time.
    (C) Twain went to see the contest many times during his lifetime.
    (D) Twain wrote about the contest before it actually took place.

9. Question: ...................................................?

    (A) A student.
    (B) A professor.
    (C) A bookstore clerk.
    (D) A librarian.

10. Question:.................................................?

     (A) The place where students get ID cards.
     (B) The place where students can use computers.
     (C) The place where students check books out.
     (D) The place where students find books in the library.

11. Question: ...............................................?

     (A) A fee.
     (B) A student ID card.
     (C) Permission from the instructor.
     (D) A computer.
 
12. Question:..............................................?

     (A) A few hours.
     (B) Two days.
     (C) Fourteen days.
      (D) Two months.

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