Listening Quiz #1a: Very Short Conversations
#1. Woman: I noticed that you don’t smoke cigarettes anymore.
Man: Right. Maybe I should become an advocate for kicking the habit.
What does the man mean?
a. He is an advocate for smoking.
b. He has a habit of advocating smoking.
c. He is going to quit smoking.
d. He wants to kick people who smoke.
e. He should help people quit smoking
#2. Man : I asked Bill if he knew who ordered the goods, but he just stared at
me with a bizarre look on his face.
Woman: He always does that.
What does the man mean?
a. Bill made an unusual order.
b. Bill clearly answered the question.
c. Bill did not know who made the order.
d. As usual, Bill was strangely silent.
e. Bill was angry with the man.
#3. Man: I think that the government should provide health care for everyone.
Woman: That's highly unlikely. Besides, it would only enlarge the deficit.
What does the woman mean?
a. Providing health care is a bad idea.
b. The government would make too much money, if it provides health care.
c. The government should provide health care.
d. Health care should be universal.
e. Government provided health care is not a desirable thing.
#4. Man: You race cars for a living, right? Don't you find it terrifying to be so close to death?
Woman: On the contrary, I find the risks which I face quite exhilarating.
What does the woman mean?
a. Racing cars is very risky.
b. The risk from racing cars is very exciting.
c. You can die when you race cars.
d. Most people are afraid to race cars.
e. Racing cars is not very dangerous.
#5. Man: The man approached the small boy stretched out on the ground. He
looked for any flicker of life in the boy.
Woman: It's such a sad story to hear.
What did the man do?
a. He avoided the boy stretched on the ground.
b. He fell on the ground.
c. He was sad about what happened.
d. He looked for a boy to listen to his story.
e. He checked the boy to see if the boy was still alive.
#6. Man: The board of directors laid out an intricate plan for restructuring
the company. It took over an hour to explain it.
Woman: I hope it will prove to be effective.
What is true about the plan ?
a. The plan is very complicated.
b. The plan is being restructured.
c. The plan was discussed very effectively.
d. The plan proves that restructuring is a good thing.
e. The plan requires one hour to enact.
#7. Man: What did you think of the President's speech last night?
Woman: I thought his reference to the poor of Beverly Hills was simply
ludicrous.
What was the woman's opinion ?
a. The President lives in Beverly Hills.
b. The President should not say poor people live in Beverly Hills.
c. The President is a silly person.
d. The President should resign.
e. The President should refer to more poor persons in his speeches.
#8. Man: What were your first thoughts after the riots began?
Woman: I felt it was an ominous sign of things to come.
What did the woman mean ?
a. Things are probably going to get worse.
b. Riots are a sign of better times.
c. Riots cause us to think of ourselves.
d. The riots would probably not last long.
e. Many signs were torn down during the riots.
#9. Man : I knew that the witness was committing perjury, but I had no way of
proving it to the jury.
Woman: I think you should inform the judge of what you know.
What did the man mean ?
a. He knew that the witness was telling the truth.
b. He wanted to prove that the witness was right
c. He was sure the witness was lying.
d. He felt the jury should lie to the witness.
e. He felt that the judge was being fooled by the jury.
#10. Man: I have asked him on several occasions to refrain from talking during
class.
Woman: I know. Sometimes I think he is completely deaf.
What did the woman mean ?
a. The student cannot hear the teacher.
b. The student doesn't listen to the teachers.
c. The teacher should talk louder.
d. The teacher should not always talk in class.
e. The student and teacher should work together to solve their problem.
#11. Man: The bomb was obviously constructed by someone who had been well
trained. It employed a sophisticated timing device linked to a cellular
phone.
Woman: Who could have done such a thing?
What do we know about the bomb ?
a. It is shaped like a cell phone.
b. It was placed on a train.
c. It has a complicated timer.
d. It was probably put together by a novice.
e. The police are well trained to defuse the bomb.
#12. Man: Most teachers do not appreciate timidity in their students.
Woman: I suppose they prefer students who exude confidence at every
moment.
What does the man mean ?
a. Teachers should be aggressive towards their students.
b. Students should be quiet and listen carefully to their teachers.
c. Students should be ready and willing to ask questions and present their views.
d. A timid student is better than an aggressive student.
e. Timidity is a by-product of excessive confidence.
#13. Man: I asked each of the students to give me their candid opinion of the
class. However, most of them only tried to flatter me, instead.
Woman: Did you fall for their flattery?
What did the students do ?
a. They gave candid opinions of the class.
b. They tried to ingratiate themselves with the professor.
c. They fell down.
d. They had no opinion.
e. They tried, but did not succeed, in giving their opinions.
#14. Man: The goal of the conference was to foster a sense of goodwill and
understanding between the two groups.
Woman: I think I'll drop in and see what's going on there.
What was the purpose of the conference ?
a. To discuss the problem of goodwill.
b. To understand the meaning of goodwill.
c. To encourage good relations between two groups.
d. To have two groups create a foster home.
e. To allow people to understand what is going on in there.
#15. Man: Can you tell me something about yourself ?
Woman: Yes, I was the recipient of an academic scholarship last year.
What did the man mean?
a. He wanted to receive a scholarship.
b. He wanted to give the woman a scholarship.
c. He needed to be a recipient of a scholarship.
d. He believes that the academic community needs to have scholarships.
e. He wanted to hear what the woman had accomplished in the past.