Question Tapescript
9. Interview: Simon, tell us about yourself.
Simon: Well, like lots of other kids my age, I’ve grown up
10. taking my boat onto the rivers in this area. One of my
favourite rivers is (1) the River Stanton, which is fast with
11. excellent white water – so things can get pretty dangerous
but it’s exciting and I’m experienced.
12. Interview: Now, it was while you were on the River
Stanton that you noticed something was wrong.
Simon: Yeah, (2) I always wondered why the water made
my eyes burn if it got on my face…and why it was a
strange, orange colour, especially when the water was
running low.
Interview: So you decided to find out more.
Simon: Yeah, I asked other people using the river and (3) I
visited a few websites and found out that the river was
orange because of pollution from the old mines in the area.
There was a lot of mining for coal done in this part of the
country. I knew that from my history class at school, but
what I didn’t know was that pollution was coming from
those old mine works and escaping into the rivers.
Interview: then you did a qualification, didn’t you?
Simon: Yes, I found out about an organization called: “The
Friends of the River Stanton”. They told me they did a
special course where I could learn how to test the river
water to see if it was healthy or not. So that’s what I did and
I got really interested in the subject.
Interview: In fact, you got so interested that you actually
started to look for an answer to the pollution problem!
Simon: I learned as much as I could about the chemistry
behind the pollution. I can’t really explain all the detail, but
basically (4) if you add something called limestone to the
river, it can improve the chemistry. That means that the
plants and fish which had died because of all the mining
companies that used to be in the area…could live in the
river again. So that made me really happy.
13. D
Officer: Yes, what can I do for you?
14. B Student: My friend is in homestay…and she really
enjoys it…so I’d like to join a family as well.
15. A Officer: Okay, so let me get some details. What’s your
name?
16. C Student: My name is Keiko Yuichini.
Officer: And you’re female. And your nationality?
Student: I’m Japanese.
Officer: And you’re how old?
Student: I’m twenty-eight years old.
Officer: Now you live at one of the colleges…which
one?
Student: Willow College, umm Room 21C.
Officer: And how long are you planning on staying
with homestay?
Student: About four months (1)
Officer: And what course are you enrolled in?
Student: Well, I’ve enrolled for twenty weeks in the
Advanced English Studies (2).
Officer: Okay. Do you have any preference for a family
with children or without children?
Student: I prefer I mean I like young children, but I’d like
to be with older people.
Officer: All right. Now what about you? Are you a
vegetarian or do you have any special food requirements?
Student: No, I am not a vegetarian but I don’t eat a lot of
meat. I really like seafood (3).
Officer: Are you familiar with the public transport system?
Student: No.
Officer: What about the trains?
Student: I like catching the train. They are much faster.
Officer: Now let me go check on the computer and see who
I’ve got. I’ll check my records and I’ll give you details this
afternoon (4).
Student: Thank you for helping me.
Officer: It’s pleasure. Bye.
17. B Interviewer: Sophie, you’re a native English speaker and
you’re been working as a translator for some time now.
18. D Sophie: I’m currently doing a lot of legal texts (9) –
the details of court cases can be interesting and the
19. D language quite challenging.
Interviewer: And what kind of language gives you the
20. A most problems? The kind of expressions used in
technology, perhaps, or science?
Sophie: Actually, I don’t have much trouble with
those. What’s still quite tricky, though, is when
someone mentions a person or an event, perhaps in
their country’s history (10).
Interviewer: So, do you normally deal with big private
firms or with state institutions like local government.
Sophie: Well, I was once contacted by an insurance
company and I did a job for them, but nearly always
it’s a case of an agency asking if I’d be willing to do a
particular text (11).
Interviewer: That mush speed things up a lot.
Sophie: Yes, but it can still be a very long working
day. I don’t mind which part of the day I’m working
though – that’s one of the advantages of working from
home.
Interviewer: How do you see the long – term future of
translating? Will it continue to be a good area to work in?
Sophie: Oh, I think so. Professional standards are
higher than they’ve ever been, and the increasingly
wide range of languages used internationally means
that the demand for high-quality translation will keep
growing for many years to come (12).
