IELTS Listening Practice Test | 2026-01-23

**Narrator:** Now turn to section one. Section one, you will hear a man phoning to inquire about hotel information. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 4. Now we shall begin. You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time. Listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 4.
**Receptionist:** Good afternoon. You're through to reception at the Island Hotel in Crete. How may I help you today?
**Caller:** Yes. Hello there. I'm hoping to book a double room for my wife and myself for about 2 weeks from the 25th of April of this year. Firstly, could you tell me whether it's particularly hot during this time?
**Receptionist:** Yes, of course, sir. During late April and early May, the daytime temperature shouldn't exceed 19° C, but the weather has been rather erratic and difficult to predict in recent years, so I am unable to say for certain.
**Caller:** Okay, that sounds good. My wife doesn't like going outside when it's very hot. I haven't booked flights yet, but I must say that I'm unfamiliar with Crete and its transport system. Does the hotel provide an airport shuttle service?
**Receptionist:** Yes, sir. We provide a complimentary airport pickup service for all our guests. It takes about 40 minutes to get here from the airport, but it's at least 60 minutes at rush hours, and you will be provided with a fully air-conditioned shuttle bus.
**Caller:** Okay, excellent. In that case, do you have any rooms available for the dates I gave you?
**Receptionist:** I shall have a look on the system now for you, sir. Bear with me just a moment. Yes, sir. I can see now that we have several rooms available. Would you prefer a garden view or a sea view?
**Caller:** Well, ideally I would like a sea view room with a balcony, but of course that depends on the difference in price.
**Receptionist:** Not to worry, sir. All of our standard double rooms have en-suite facilities and a balcony. If you would like one of our sea view rooms, there is a premium of €60 per night.
**Caller:** Okay. So, could you tell me the total nightly rate for a standard double room with a sea view?
**Receptionist:** Yes, of course, sir. For the spring months, our rate is €216 per night. For 14 nights altogether, this will come to €3,024.
**Caller:** Perfect. I also read on your website that the hotel has gym and spa facilities. Are there any other facilities on offer?
**Receptionist:** Yes, we have a large outdoor infinity pool overlooking the ocean with luxury sunbeds and a poolside bar. We also have three full-size tennis courts where we run a popular doubles tournament with the winner receiving two all-inclusive spa day vouchers.
**Caller:** Goodness, I shall have to brush up on my tennis skills.
**Narrator:** Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 5 to 10. Now listen and answer questions 5 to 10.
**Caller:** Are there any other activities organized by the hotel that we can partake in? It's just that it's our wedding anniversary on the 30th of June and I would like to provide my wife with a perfect romantic getaway.
**Receptionist:** I can assure you, sir, that your wife won't be disappointed. Ours is a five-star resort which is renowned for its luxury and beauty. In terms of activities, the hotel provides thrice weekly entertainment. On Tuesdays, guests will take a mini bus and partake in learning to cook succulent fish dishes with our Michelin starred chef Enrique. The class will take place in a beautiful valley deep in the Cretan Hills where guests will be treated to an intimate piano performance by our in-house concert pianist Pedro. On Wednesdays, a select number of guests will be fortunate enough to explore the mountains by helicopter before being transported to a tropical cretan garden by shuttle bus. Finally, on Thursdays, after a fancy dinner, we provide a spectacular fireworks display which guests can view from the comfort of a cable car.
**Caller:** Oh wow, that all sounds absolutely wonderful. I shall book the room now and then I need to look at flights so as not to become extortionate. Would you like to take my details now or later?
**Narrator:** That is the end of section one. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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**Narrator:** Now turn to section two. You will hear a guide talking about a tourist program. First you have some time to look at questions 11 to 14. Listen carefully to the first part of the talk and answer questions 11 to 14.
**Kathy:** Welcome to all of you. Can everyone see me and hear me? Good. My name's Kathy and I'm here to tell you about the special program of events going on here at the Royal Observatory. Yes, it's Doors Open Day here in Edinburgh and we're delighted that you have chosen to make this very special building part of your own open doors day experience.
Now, I'll make a start with giving you some background information about the doors open event. Doors Open takes place every year in September. And the observatory is one of the many buildings, 112 of them in fact, that open their doors to visitors for one weekend. And yes, there's absolutely no charge. It's all completely free. The observatory has been involved in this event for more than 20 years. And every year we attract more and more visitors like you who want to find out more about great buildings in the city. And hopefully you'll leave with a better understanding of the universe, too.
Okay, now let's run through today's program of events. There are many activities to choose from, so make sure you make the most of your visit. Now, there will be planetarium shows throughout the day. Now, these will run four times both today and tomorrow, Sunday. These are popular, so please note that we're operating a booking system for these shows. Tickets for the two shows we're running this morning, the first showing at 10:30 and the second at 11:30, will be available on a first come, first served basis here at the information point. Tickets for the two afternoon shows at 2:00 p.m. and then at 3:00 p.m. will be released later on at midday. So, booking is essential as spaces go very quickly.
**Narrator:** Now you have some time to look at questions 15 to 20. Now listen to the next part of the talk and answer questions 15 to 20.
**Kathy:** We also have some special tours of the observatory available. These include a tour of the telescope dome and visitors will even have the opportunity to get onto the roof. I hope that those of you who are interested are wearing your most comfortable shoes and that you can keep up the pace. It will be worth the effort of climbing all these stairs. You'll have stunning views over the city when you reach the top.
Now, for those of you who want to take things at a more leisurely pace, there will be an opportunity to visit the Crawford collection and learn about the instruments that have been built here, and there will also be some items from the collection on view. For those of you who don't already know, the Crawford collection is an astronomical library. And not only that, it ranks as one of the most important astronomical libraries in the world.
You are promised a real treat here and it's great to have so many younger visitors here today. Now, we have a craft workshop for children here in the visitor center where they can make their very own model of a telescope and color their very own planet. Please note that all children must be accompanied by an adult.
So, as you can see, it's a pretty full timetable and there's a lot going on. Now any questions?
**Narrator:** That is the end of section two. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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**Narrator:** Now turn to part three. Part three. Richard Murray, a zoologist and popular TV personality, has been giving a talk on endangered species of wildlife to members of the Young Conservationists Association in a small town in the south of England. Listen to the extract from the discussion he had with two of the young people after his talk. First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 25. Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 25.
**Tony:** What would you say, Mr. Murray, are the main reasons that so much of our wildlife will have died out by the end of the next few decades?
**Richard Murray:** Well Tony, we can't of course rule out the effect of urbanization due to the spread of population. But apart from that, I believe there are two reasons which in a way are like the opposite ends of a piece of string. If you tie a knot in that piece of string, you end up with a circle and whichever way you go round, it's going to turn out to be the same.
**Tony:** I don't think I quite get that, Mr. Murray.
**Richard Murray:** Well, let's put it another way. It's rather like a film. You've got the good guys and the bad guys. They're pulling in opposite directions, but when it comes to the final showdown, it's hard to make out which is which.
**Tony:** What are your two reasons, Mr. Murray?
**Richard Murray:** I call them greed and caring.
**Tony:** Greed and caring?
**Richard Murray:** Yes, I know they don't seem to have much to do with one another, but think about it. The motive of greed is pretty obvious. In the course of the next few months, thousands of baby seals will be bludgeoned to death before they're even weaned from their mothers. What for? For the sale of their skins at inflated prices to please the vanity of a few and line the pockets of the killers. Crocodiles will be slaughtered to provide shoes and handbags for the rich. Gorillas, tigers, leopards, and rhinos will be hunted for senseless sport or poached in defiance of regulations. Their skins, their horns, and their magnificent heads will be used as trophies to decorate someone's living room floor or walls.
**Tony:** That's terrible.
**Richard Murray:** Yes, but it's not all. The whale, probably the most impressive and certainly one of the most intelligent sea mammals in creation, will be cruelly hunted and harpooned to make more money for the profiteers. The dolphin, the sailor's friend, will be indiscriminately battered to death and so much ahead on the grounds that it is taking away the livelihood of a few fishermen by consuming the fish in its natural habitat.
**Tony:** But surely, Mr. Murray, we do have to keep warm. We need whale oil and ambergris. Fishermen have to make a living.
**Richard Murray:** Part of what you say is true, of course, Tony, but we shall have to enforce far stricter controls if future generations are not to find themselves in a world devoid of wildlife as we know it.
**Tony:** Well, I see what you mean about fur coats and crocodile handbags, Mr. Murray. But I don't understand what you mean by caring. That can't be bad, surely. I mean, I thought we were supposed to be living in a caring society.
**Richard Murray:** Well, so we do in a way. The trouble is there are so many well-intentioned people who start out with the best possible motives of trying to protect or immunize us from this that or the other in the most effective way at the quickest possible rate. But in their enthusiasm, they lose sight of the long-term consequences. It's only very gradually that the danger to other forms of life, including humans, comes out. Not to say leaks out. And by that time, it'll probably be too late to do much about it. Take insecticides for instance.
**Narrator:** Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 26 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 26 to 30.
**Tony:** But insecticides protect crops from pests. They destroy disease carrying mites and creepy crawlies like cockroaches.
**Richard Murray:** True, but nature has a way of developing her own immunity against insecticides and other pest controls with the result that the biologists are driven to inventing stronger and stronger compounds which though they may annihilate the pest nevertheless permeate the environment are assimilated by plant and animal life and become absorbed by the soil. Countless innocent creatures, the beaver or the mole for example, are performing a useful task in the natural control. The alarming prospect is that as these poisons enter the foods we eat and consequently our own systems, they'll find their way into the body of the pregnant mother and into her milk, offering incalculable risks to the unborn or newly born infant. In spite of all our technological expertise, our time is running out. We're virtually destroying ourselves.
**Narrator:** That is the end of part three. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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**Narrator:** Now turn to part four. Part four. First you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40. Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
**Lecturer:** Today I'm going to talk about the city of Barcelona and its architecture. First, the city. Barcelona is a city of some 1 and a half million people. It is a port situated on the northeast coast of Spain in the province of Catalonia. The people speak Catalan as their native language, but most are also fluent in Castellian Spanish and some speak English too. The city center is surrounded by a ring road which encloses a grid with two major roads running diagonally across it. These are the Avenidas diagonal and Meridana. Probably the most famous street in Barcelona is La Rambla, which connects the Placa de Catalonia in the town center to the statue of Columbus on the water's edge. All along the center of this wide boulevard are stalls selling flowers and artistic works.
Barcelona was founded by the Carthaginians from modern-day Tunisia in North Africa. It grew under the influence of the Roman Empire, later becoming the capital of Spain. Under strong government, it expanded its trade, exporting cloth to other Mediterranean ports and establishing itself as a financial center. It went into decline after 1400 and in 1640, it was the center of the Catalan Revolution against King Philip IV of Spain. Now it is considered by many to be the cultural center of Spain and the Olympic Games were held there in 1992.
Now to the architecture. Throughout the city there are many fine buildings, churches, cathedrals, markets and squares which date back to the 13th century. One very fine square which can be entered from La Rambla is the Placa Reial or Royal Square. This was built by Molina in the 19th century. Seven narrow passages lead into a large central area which is surrounded by two-story buildings. Most of the ground floor is occupied by restaurants and bars and it is traditionally a place of music and entertainment.
It is impossible to talk about the architecture of Barcelona without mentioning Gaudi who dominated the scene from the 1880s until his death in 1926. His style was unique, a decorative form of art nouveau, the style of the 1920s and 30s in Europe. It was based on organic natural forms which often seem to defy the qualities of the materials they are made from. I will mention just three of his best known works today.
The first is Guell Palace. This was built for the Count of Guell, one of Gaudi's main supporters. The building features two arched gates which lead into the stable area. Inside are two circular staircases, one for people and the other for horses. The ground floor is built of brick, but there is also much natural stone used in the construction. The roof is quite fantastic with brightly colored sculptures built around the chimneys and ventilation shafts.
Another project commissioned by Guell is the park named after him. This was meant to be a garden city with 50 houses, but in fact only two were ever finished. The influence of nature is strong in the cave-like spaces and animal figures, and again much use has been made of brilliantly colored surfaces.
But the greatest of Gaudi's works is still under construction and it is not expected to be finished until 2041. He began work on this cathedral known as La Sagrada Familia Church of the Holy Family in 1882, which means that it will have taken 159 years to complete. The finished building will have 18 towers, the highest being 170 m high. The building will be 95 m long by 60 m wide and it will hold 13,000 people. A truly impressive monument to Gaudi's great genius.
And that's all we have time for today. Next week we'll look at some of Gaudi's smaller projects and also his furniture designs. Please make sure that you complete your assignment on Le Corbusier by this coming Friday.
**Narrator:** That is the end of part four. You now have half a minute to check your answers.