Track 11: Mid-course Test, Listening exercise 1 1

I’m not really one for dancing. I mean, I love listening to music and doing the odd bit of toe tapping but that’s pretty much as far as it goes, or at least that’s what I’d have said a year ago … but now … well! My neighbour persuaded me to go along to salsa classes at the local community centre a few months ago … she didn’t want to go alone so I agreed, somewhat reluctantly I must say, but once I’d got over the initial embarrassment I just loved it. The rhythms, the moves and apart from anything, it’s a really good work-out.

2

I started renting this apartment about two years ago and just recently decided to advertise for a flatmate. I got loads of answers to my ad as this flat’s right in the city centre. Obviously I couldn’t interview everyone so I narrowed it down to people I thought would fit in well with my lifestyle and I’ve been very lucky. Jack keeps himself to himself pretty much most of the time and certainly pulls his weight with all the household stuff which is great as I must say I’m quite particular about things.

3

There aren’t many things I’d change if I had my time again, but if I could turn back the clock I think I’d have stayed in Australia when I had the chance. I was offered a really good job in Sydney during my gap year but decided not to take up the offer as I’d already got a place at uni for that autumn. At the time I remember thinking that I could always go back but somehow life just got in the way!

4

I’ve always loved the classics, much more than current fiction, so I’d say my favourite book has to be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I first read it when I was at school and was struck by the passion in the writing. The book had everything … adventure, love, hate, despair … I guess I was probably too young to appreciate it all when I read it the first time but now that I’m an adult, it’s a book I have often returned to. It’s just the perfect read for a winter’s afternoon curled up by the fire.

5

I’m not a great fan of package holidays so tend to go off the beaten track to look for the more remote, unspoilt places on our planet and Lake Baikal in Siberia is one such place! I went last winter and spent a few days on the shore of that incredible lake. I was pretty much the only person staying in the hotel as far as I could make out so it was quite eerie in some ways. The lake was starting to freeze over so the views were breathtakingly beautiful … definitely a place to go back to.

6

… without a doubt, the mobile phone. I can’t think of anything more annoying than sitting on the train listening to everyone’s inane conversations. I always sit in the ‘quiet’ carriage where people aren’t supposed to listen to their MP3 players or use their phones but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone. Mind you, even though I hate them, I have to confess I finally succumbed and bought a mobile last year but only because I was going travelling and everyone wanted me to get one in case of emergency. And now I’m back I never bother to switch it on and don’t even know how to use it properly.