C A M B R I D G E

E X A M I N A T I O N S , C E R T I F I C A T E S & D I P L O M A S

English as a
Foreign Language

F C E

F I R S T C E R T I F I C AT E I N E N G L I S H

P A P E R 4 S A M P L E P A P E R S

1

You hear part of an interview on the radio.

Who is being interviewed?

A

a musician

B

an actress

C

a painter

2

A man speaks to you in the street.

What does he want you to do?

A

try something out

B

comment on something

C

buy something

3

At the airport you hear this couple talking.

How is the man feeling?

A

angry

B

suspicious

C

anxious

4

You are listening to a radio phone-in.

Why has Annie phoned in?

A

to criticise teenagers

B

to complain about school

C

to discuss a family problem

2

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You will hear people talking in eight different situations. For Questions 1-8, choose the best answer,
A, B or C.

Part 1

1

2

3

4

5

8

6

7

5

You hear this advertisement on the radio.

What is emphasised about the product?

A

It is up to date.

B

It is cheap.

C

It is reliable.

6

A woman is making a phone call.

Where is she phoning?

A

a tourist information office

B

a college

C

a doctor’s surgery

7

While visiting a college, you hear this man talking.

What feature of the city is he talking about?

A

trade

B

history

C

financial institutions

8

A young woman is talking on the phone to a music teacher.

What does the woman want to do?

A

arrange a lesson

B

cancel a lesson

C

complain about a lesson

3

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[Turn over

18

17

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

You will hear an interview with Frank Duncan, a famous film director, who is talking about his early life
and work. For Questions 9-18, complete the sentences.

An important part of Frank’s life is

There was a

close to his home.

David and he enjoyed going to

David and he tried to become

Frank’s family was involved in the

business.

His grandfather invented a

His grandfather advised him to start a

business.

At 17, he was rich enough to

He started to write stories for

At BBC television he trained as

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Part 2

23

22

21

20

19

A

the attitude of the staff

Speaker 1

B

the general level of prices

Speaker 2

C

the range of goods

Speaker 3

D

the quality of the products

Speaker 4

E

convenient shopping

Speaker 5

F

an experiment that failed

5

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You will hear five people giving their views on large and small shops. For Questions 19-23, choose
which of the subjects in the list A-F they are talking about. Use the letters only once. There is one
extra letter which you do not need to use.

Part 3

[Turn over

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Part 4

24

Peter became a fisherman because

A

he was good at sea-fishing as a youngster.

B

he wanted to do what his father did.

C

he was keen to do any job at sea.

25

What does he say about his training?

A

The time spent in the classroom was boring.

B

Most of it involved doing the job.

C

He found it harder than he had expected.

26

What does he say has been a problem for him?

A

studying electronics

B

finding reliable colleagues

C

dealing with the boat breaking down

27

What does Peter particularly like about being a fisherman?

A

the physical activity it involves

B

how unpredictable it is

C

the freedom to choose when he works

You will hear an interview with a fisherman. For Questions 24-30, decide which of the choices A, B or
C is the best answer.

24

25

26

27

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[Turn over

30

29

28

28

What does he say about the money that he earns?

A

He makes sure that he saves some of it.

B

He dislikes the system of payment.

C

He finds it difficult to live on.

29

What does he say about his social life?

A

He wishes he had more time for it.

B

He can seldom afford to have one.

C

It does not interfere with his work.

30

Which of the following best describes Peter’s attitude to his
job?

A

He thinks he isn’t capable of doing another job.

B

He regards it as more than just a job.

C

He feels that his income from it should be higher.

P A P E R 4 T E S T B T A P E S C R I P T

Part 1

Interviewer:

How did you start your career, er, how did

you get noticed?

Woman:

After college, I entered as many

competitions

as possible. Obviously you get more

work if

you win prizes and people get to

know your

work. And it’s good disci-

pline, learning

pieces set for the competi-

tions.
Interviewer:

That led to your lucky break, didn’t it?

Woman:

Yes, a performer I much admire was

one of

the judges in the competition.

Interviewer:

John Hill?

Woman:

Right, and he asked me to do an album with
him, after hearing me play. It was a hit.

I’m sorry to bother you but could I just have
a moment of your time? I’m working for a
well-known manufacturer and we’re trying to

find out what people think of our products,
how often they buy them and whether they
like the changes that we’re thinking of
making. First of all, I’d like to show you one
or two new products that we are planning to
introduce and ask you whether you will buy
them when they are on the market. I won’t
keep you for long, I assure you.

Man:

I’m sure we’ve forgotten something. Every
time we go away we forget something.
Where are the tickets?

Woman:

They’re in my handbag. I also have

our

travellers cheques, our

hotel reservations and

our car hire documents.

Man:

Are you sure? What about our passports? Do
you have our passports? Do check, you can’t
be too careful!

Woman:

They’re in my bag too.

... Annie, I just wanted to perhaps reassure
you - to say that I think you’re getting what
many people would recognise as being a
quite common reaction from a teenager

round about the age of fifteen, sixteen, when

faced

with the problem of changing schools
mid-year. Your daughter - it’s quite natural
that she should be going through, now, this
mix of emotions - feeling lost, not able to
cope with everything. But believe me, Annie,

it will

pass. Now what you could do to help
is to ...

You can pay more if you like but you’ll never

buy a better computer than the Phalanx 342.

In the

fast-moving world of computer

quickly to new innovations can hope to
succeed. With the Phalanx 342, we’ve left
the competition behind yet again. The cost?
Well, the Phalanx 342 is great value for
money. And quality? That comes with a firm
guarantee. So if you want to be ahead of the
rest, get the Phalanx 342 now! Phone
5463423 for a free information pack.

Woman

...right, so let me just check what you’ve told
me - the next course in First Aid For All starts
on September 7 and there’s no problem
about short-stay foreign residents registering
for the course, and details of fees are in the
prospectus ...

Lecturer

... so our survey will look at all the important
developments of the city. We’ll be starting
with its foundation as a trading post some
two thousand years ago, we’ll consider its
decline in the Middle Ages, then we’ll be
coming right up to date when we consider
its role today as one of the world’s major
tourist and financial centres.

Woman ...sorry about this, but I just can’t seem to

make any headway with the piece - and
having to miss last week’s lesson didn’t help.

Anyway, is Thursday at 6.30 any good for

you? That’ll give me a chance to do some
practice and ...

Part 2

Interviewer:

Was it always your ambition to be a director,
Frank, or did you really want to write, at the
beginning?

Film Director: I kept a journal at that time, when I was

fifteen, sixteen and have done so, on and off,
ever since. And I find that a very important
part of my life really, which is writing,
composing my thoughts and putting things
down on paper.

Interviewer:

But didn’t you live near one of the top film
studios as a boy?

Film Director: Yes, but I didn’t go to work there when I left

school.

Interviewer:

Why not? Wouldn’t they have you?

Film Director: Well, my best friend, David, and I both

wanted to, because going to the cinema was
what we both liked doing and there were
people living around there who were
working at the studios. So, we both applied
to be messenger boys. Anyway, he got the
job, but they turned me down.

Interviewer:

What did you lack, I wonder?

Film Director: I don’t know, probably I didn’t look bright

enough but, I never dreamed then of being

1

7

8

2

3

4

5

6

a director, for me at fifteen, being a
messenger boy was the highest thing I
thought I could aspire to.

Interviewer:

So you had to think again.

Film Director: Yes. I set up a laundry business instead.
Interviewer:

Why laundry?

Film Director: Well, it was in the family, you might say. My

grandfather inherited a laundry in London
and he went on to invent a washing machine

for it. So when I left school and wanted to

make

some money, I went to my grandfather

and

he said, ‘The big thing, you know, is dry
cleaning’, and he showed David, who’d

soon

given up being a messenger boy, and
myself how to do it. So we started up a dry
cleaning business and made a bit of money

at it,

enough, in fact, for me to be able to,

sort

of, give up work at the age of seventeen.
Interviewer:

To do what? To write?

Film Director: That’s right. To write stories for women’s

magazines, and eventually this led to plays
and film scripts and all that. And then as a
result of these, BBC television invited me to
come and take part in some youth
programmes they were doing, and that’s how
it all started really.

Interviewer:

So it was at the BBC that you learnt your
craft?

Film Director: Yes, I began as a sort of trainee film editor

and I learnt editing.

Interviewer:

And was it good training for someone going
on to become a film director?

Film Director: Excellent. The laundry didn’t do any harm

either though.

Part 3

Male:

I’ve been everywhere, you know, like all the
major superstores around and I just can’t get
these double press hinges anywhere, you
know, and I’ve come here, just a small shop
and he’s got ‘em on the shelf. I mean, they
do have to squeeze a lot into a small place,
but they do have a tremendous amount of
different lines in this small space.

Female:

In a small shop like this it’s very friendly and
I’ve had things from here, like a doormat,
that I’ve hesitated whether it would fit or not,

and I take it home, I don’t have to pay for it,

and

they say, ‘Try it, if it doesn’t fit bring it

back’

and that’s what I do. You know, you

don’t have to

spend a lot of time looking for

things, you can

just ask, or point in my case,

and they get it

for you.

Male:

Two years ago, one of the large stores
launched discount weekends, offering 20%
off everything. These weekends were very

unpleasant, the shop was crowded and they
didn’t have enough staff. Half the time the
things you were looking for were not on the
shelf, they’d sold out. In the end, everyone
got fed up with it and thought, ‘Well, if they
can reduce the prices at weekends, perhaps
we’re being overcharged during the week’.

Female:

I come here because it’s well laid out, you
can pick and choose as you want, and it’s
got a nice big car park. I come in and
wander round to get ideas about interior
design or things I might do that I wouldn’t
otherwise have thought of. There’s no hassle
here, if you want something in particular,
there’s a map and all the aisles are labelled
and there’s never a queue at the checkout.

Male:

In this shop, they have a policy of everyday
low pricing which is a strategy of reducing
the prices on the core range of goods all the
time and they stick to that. So it’s not true
that small shops are more expensive. Most of

them these days belong to a federation
which is able to buy good makes in large

quan-

tities and pass on the saving to its

mem-

bers, who pass it on to us, the

cus-

tomers.

Part 4
Presenter:

In today’s programme in our series about
people’s jobs, we discover what it’s like to
be a fisherman in Britain. Peter Dodds has
been a fisherman for four years and he’s with
me now. Peter, welcome. Tell me, what led
you to a career in fishing?

Peter:

Well, I started sea-fishing, angling, when I
was quite young, and with my Dad being a
boat builder, I’ve always had a connection
with the sea and wanted to make a living
which involved the sea as well ... and there’s

really only one thing you can do and that’s

fish-

ing. It’s worlds apart from anything else I
know.
Presenter:

Did you have to take any kind of course?

Peter:

Yes, first of all I did my three weeks’ initial
training where I did fire fighting, sea
survival, first aid and then emergency aid.
Then twenty five weeks in a classroom and
the next two years was on a sea-going basis,
where I went out and worked at sea and was

assessed on the work I did.
Presenter:

What would you say it takes to be a
fisherman?

Peter:

The first requirement for someone to go
fishing, they’ve got to want to go fishing, it’s
a way of life, it isn’t just a job. There are so
many facets to it, um, you have to find out

where and when to find your fish, you have
to have some engineering experience if you
have breakdowns, er, knowledge of
electronics, I really had a struggle with that
one, ropes and knots, there’s an awful lot to
cover. And you also have to get on with your
companions, you have to rely on your mates
- if you’ve got to be worried about them not
doing what they should do, you could be in
serious trouble.

Presenter:

Do you enjoy the work?

Peter:

Well, every day’s different, you never stop
learning. You know, you get an awful lot of
respect for the sea. There’s not another job
like it at all. I mean, you could be sitting in
an office, tapping away on a computer,
doing the same thing day in day out. With
fishing, you go... I mean... every day the
weather’s different, the catch is different, the
fishing’s different, you earn different money.
You’ve got more of an incentive to go
because you can say, well, ‘if I don’t go, I
don’t earn any money.

Presenter:

So does fishing give you a good living?

Peter:

One week you might not earn a great deal
and then a couple of weeks later you might
earn four times as much, so what you’ve got
to do is set yourself a certain amount of
money to live on and, if you can, put some
aside in the bank for when the weather’s
going to be bad. Then, when the fishing
does die, you can say ‘I can have three

months off’ and you can afford to do it. You

get

paid a share rather than a basic weekly
wage, so if the boat doesn’t go to sea, that

will

mean you don’t earn much at all, but

you

have to find money to pay the bills

anyway.

Presenter:

Does your job allow you to have much of a
social life? I mean, I imagine you have to get

up very early most days.
Peter:

I have to fit my social life in around the sea
really, because I have to go to sea when the
weather’s right. When the weather’s bad,
then if I’ve got money I can go out and enjoy

myself and I can wake up in the morning

and if

there’s a storm I’ll be quite happy

about it. It can

be difficult to motivate

yourself in the

wintertime to get out there,

but in the end, it’s

money in the pocket, and

you’ve got bills to pay.

Presenter:

So, any regrets about making fishing your
career?

Peter:

You know, fishing is my life. I can’t really see
myself doing anything else. Driving a bus or
working in an office, it would drive me mad.

Presenter:

Thanks, Peter, for giving us an insight into
what it’s like to be a fisherman.

P A P E R 4 L I S T E N I N G A N S W E R S H E E T

P A P E R 4 T E S T B A N S W E R K E Y

Part 1

1 A

2 B

3 C

4 C

5 A

6 B

7 B

8 A

Part 3

19 C

20 A

21 F

22 E

23 B

Each question is given one mark. The total score is adjusted to give a mark out of 40.

Part 2

9 writing/composing (my) thoughts/putting

things (down) on paper

10 (top/famous) film studio

11 (the) cinema

12 messenger boys

13 laundry

14 washing machine

15 (dry(-)) cleaning

16 give up work/stop work(ing)

17 women(‘s) magazines

18 (a/an) (film) editor

Part 4

24 C

25 B

26 A

27 B

28 A

29 C

30 B