LTE

London Tests of English

Session One: May 2007

Tape Script

Level 4

Hello everyone! Today’s test is the London Tests of English Level Four. The theme of
this test is Fame. This test lasts two hours and thirty minutes. There are five tasks.
Tasks One and Two are listening. You must listen to the tape and write your answers in
this booklet. Good luck!

Task One: Encounters with Fame.

You are doing research into issues connected with fame. Your first task is to listen to a
radio phone-in programme about three different people’s experiences of fame and

famous personalities.

Listen to the programme and answer the questions below. Put a cross in the box next
to the correct answer A, B, C or D, as in the example.

You will hear the programme twice. Do as much as you can the first time and finish
your work the second time.

You have one minute and a half to read the questions.

[ONE AND A HALF MINUTES PAUSE]

Listen carefully. The programme starts now.

PRESENTER: [fade up] Tonight we’re talking about how you feel when confronted

with fame especially when you come across a famous person … and the

first person on the line tonight is Tina from London. Hi, Tina! Can you

hear me?

TINA: Yes, Mike. Good evening.

PRESENTER: Good evening to you. Now Tina, I gather you feel intimidated when you

encounter famous people.

TINA: That’s right. I feel intimidated even talking to you. [presenter laughs]

You know, I can never think of anything to say.

PRESENTER: And

you

have met someone famous?

TINA: Oh, yes – on a couple of occasions. For example, when I was at college I

spent an evening with other students talking to a very well known

theatre producer. We were all pretty nervous actually, including him,

now I come to think of it.

PRESENTER: Did you speak to him?

TINA: Eventually, yes. After some of the others had. I plucked up the courage

and asked him something or other.

PRESENTER: And ... ?

TINA: He answered at great length and found it worth discussing. But I still felt

really ... almost inferior.

PRESENTER: Which you’re not!

TINA: Thanks. But I felt I wasn’t really equal to him, you know. It all stems

from the fact that you know and admire famous people and they don’t

know who you are.

PRESENTER: Maybe so. Thanks Tina, it’s been great talking to you.

TINA [FADE OVER] Thanks, Mike, I enjoyed ...

PRESENTER: Now we’ve got Neil from Edinburgh. What’s your point, Neil?

NEIL: It’s about my moment of near-fame. I think like many people I wanted to

be famous when I was young and I remember once when I was a college

student I was on a TV quiz programme and I thought my moment had

arrived. I arrived at the studios and got out of the taxi and these young

boys were hanging around outside and came towards me thinking I might

be famous I suppose, calling out, ‘Can we have your autograph?’

PRESENTER: How did you feel?

NEIL: Just for a brief moment I had a strange feeling of being significant, of

fame, I suppose. I enjoyed it.

PRESENTER: Did you give them your autograph?

NEIL: Actually, just at that moment someone they did recognise turned up and

they all chased after her instead.

PRESENTER; Oh dear. Well, thanks for talking to us Neil. And now we have on the line

Judy from Manchester. Good evening, Judy.

JUDY:

Hello,

Mike.

PRESENTER; What’s your experience of fame, Judy?

JUDY: Well, Mike, first-hand, rather limited I have to admit. But what I wanted

to say is that fame is dangerous in my opinion.

PRESENTER: How do you mean, dangerous?

JUDY: Well, I know of a couple who are famous writers, and they’ve done very

well. The problem is that they’ve bought this huge house and they’ve got

all these cars and fantastic lifestyle.

PRESENTER: Sounds all right to me.

JUDY: Yes, but they’re totally insecure because they’ve got to finance this

lifestyle and it all depends on whether their books are selling, which at

the moment they’re not. I don’t think they’re at all happy, because, as I

say, at the moment sales are falling and they haven’t got another book

ready.

PRESENTER: But fame isn’t the same as wealth, is it? If you think about it, most

people have probably never heard of the couple you’re talking about, so

in a sense their fame is restricted. And there are plenty of people who

are famous who are not wealthy.

JUDY: That tends to be scientists and people like that. They might well be

happy because they’ve really achieved something worthwhile.

PRESENTER: So being famous for some reasons is dodgy.

JUDY: Very. For instance, you’re at the mercy of your fans if you’re a pop

artist. They might suddenly stop buying your albums. And the pressures

can destroy you. Lots of stars end up on drugs or something like that.

PRESENTER: So you don’t mind being obscure?

JUDY: No, because it’s happiness that counts.

PRESENTER: Good thought, Judy. Thanks a lot. Bye. Now we have Bob on the line

from ... [fade over]

[FIVE SECOND PAUSE]


You will now hear the programme again.

[TONE/BEEP]

[REPEAT CONVERSATION]

That is the end of Task One. Now go on to Task Two.

[FIVE SECOND PAUSE]

Task Two: Hall of Fame – Edison


You will now hear a radio talk. The speaker discusses the life and achievements of the
famous inventor, Edison. Listen to the talk and complete the notes below. Write
between one and four words in each gap. The first one is an example.

You will hear the talk twice. Do as much as you can the first time and finish your work
the second time.

You have one minute to read the notes.


[ONE MINUTE PAUSE]


Listen carefully. The talk starts now.

[TONE/BEEP]

[FIVE SECOND PAUSE]


It’s a great pleasure to be asked to contribute to this series of talks called Hall of Fame.

I’ve chosen a famous inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, born in 1847. He came from a family

that had settled in the USA, fled to Canada during the American War of Independence and

then fled back again in 1830 after getting involved on the wrong side in an insurrection

there. Edison went to school briefly, where his schoolmaster declared him to have an

‘addled’ brain. He didn’t pay attention. Nowadays we’d say he had attention deficit

disorder, which is coming to be recognised as including a very low tolerance of boredom.

Edison’s schoolteacher bored him, so he sat daydreaming. His mother took him away from

school and tutored him herself, something for which he was always deeply grateful. He

spent all his money on books and, even in early life, had an unquenchable enthusiasm for

solving problems. Once he had identified one he wouldn’t give up till he solved it. Another

important factor is that he went somewhat deaf as an adolescent for reasons that are not

entirely clear. Several explanations, including being picked up by his ears, have been

suggested. Whatever the explanation is, deafness appears to have helped him to cut

himself off from other people and to concentrate.

He got involved with telegraphy and took out several patents on his early inventions.

When he had made enough money he bought a laboratory in New Jersey where he paid a

group of scientists to think of inventions and then make them work. The idea was

spectacularly successful. It was in effect the first research department ever and today

there isn’t a big company or university that doesn’t have one.

His most famous invention was a practical electric light bulb. He perfected what others

had already attempted and, importantly, invented all the other devices needed to make it

a practical proposition, such as the on-off switch, a means of stabilising electric current

and wiring systems. An English inventor, Swan, came up with the idea of the light bulb at

the same time and they formed a joint company to market their invention.

There is a sense in which, like the petrol engine, the light bulb had unexpected effects on

the quality of life. The light bulb has made possible all-night work and social activities and

granted us freedoms not previously available. The downside is this: it is a fact that people

in countries where there is a freely available electricity supply now sleep less than they

would without the light bulb and the resulting sleep deprivation has an adverse effect on

daytime performance. It has also been shown that working nights, even if you get used to

it and do it all the time, shortens lives.

There are a few other revolutionary inventions of Edison’s which have had an undeniably

beneficial effect, among them the phonograph (the world’s first recording machine) and

the movie camera. Being able to record sound has revolutionised the availability of music.

Also, one can not overrate the importance of the movie camera in making cinema

possible.

Failures? He had a few, and the one I like best, because it still seems odd, is his idea for

concrete furniture. It would probably work now but in his day concrete was not up to the

job, so maybe he was just ahead of his time.

Overall, though, his was an amazing achievement. He died in 1931 having taken out well

over a thousand patents.

[FIVE SECOND PAUSE]


You will now hear the talk again.


[TONE/BEEP]

[REPEAT TALK]


That is the end of the listening tasks. The other tasks test your reading and writing of
English. Now go on to Task Three.