This is the new Cambridge First Certificate in English Listening test, 2016.
Practicing on these Cambridge FCE Listening tests helps raise your score in the Cambridge English First exams. These tests are also very good to exercise English listening skills.
Correct answers & audio transcript are posted below.
This video is in the series of NEW Cambridge First Certificate in English exam preparation:
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TRANSCRIPTS
The modern cultivated carrot is a flowering vegetable that grows up to a metre tall, with a long, rounded orange root. Carrots are grown around the world, and (9) the huge numbers eaten almost everywhere mean that among vegetables their popularity is second only to that of potatoes, well ahead of third-placed onions and other rivals such as beans, peas or cabbage.
Carrot farming is nowadays spread pretty much across the world, with huge quantities produced in countries as far apart as Japan, India, Morocco, Mexico and Australia, which has its own variety of the vegetable. Poland is the leading producer in Europe but (10) China, where a third of the world’s carrots are cultivated, is far ahead of second-placed Russia and the USA in third.
Growing carrots goes back a long way. The wild carrot - smaller, tougher and whiter than the cultivated carrot - grows naturally in Europe and parts of Asia. Although temple drawings from ancient Egypt, 4,000 years ago, show what appear to be carrots, it is believed that they had been cultivated in what is now Afghanistan before then. So it seems that (11) humans have in fact been farming carrots for 4.500 years. They were certainly grown by the ancient Greeks 2,500 years ago, and by the Romans, who took the carrot and other vegetables with them as their empire expanded.
Carrot cultivation was probably also taking place in Central Asia at that time, but there, as in the Mediterranean area, its appearance would have been different from what we would expect a carrot to look like today. Although a few - like the wild variety - were white, (12) it was in fact normally a purple vegetable in its early days. and considerably thinner than today’s carrot.
It is believed that the Romans ate it, usually raw with salt, oil and vinegar. Gradually it became accepted in many countries as a food, cooked in various ways and used in a range of dishes including soups. (13) This was a significant change, as until then most people had considered it a medicine, used in the treatment of a range of illnesses.
In the early 16th century the vegetable reached England from France, taking its name from the French word ‘carotte’ It was also around that time that the orange carrot first appeared, developed by agricultural scientists and growers in Holland for political reasons.
(14) Evidence for this can be seen in paintings of the time.
Since then, different varieties have been produced, including the ‘baby carrots’ seen in today’s supermarkets, and so-called ‘rainbow carrots’ sold in packets containing carrots of various colours. The brightness of a carrot’s colour can be affected by a number of things. Air temperatures below 15 or above 21 degrees centigrade
(15) reduce its intensity, as does wet ground. Sandy soils produce the most colourful carrots, especially when the growing period is spring or summer rather than autumn or winter.
The carrot remains one of the healthiest foods around. (16) It is the exception to the usual rule that the health benefits are greater if you eat vegetables raw rather than cook them, so it can be used in a whole range of meals and still be good for you. It’s an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, and although some of the claims for it - such as enabling people to see in the dark - have been excessive, it is certainly good for the eyesight. (17) It is also thought to be effective in protecting the skin against sun damage, and may even help clear up spots.
The carrot is now being used in increasingly surprising ways. Recently, scientists have succeeded in converting it into an extremely strong material, and it has already been used to make snowboards. Another suggestion for this remarkable vegetable is that it could power buses and cars when the world’s oil runs out:
(18) a decade from now, the fuel we use instead might be carrots. However, to drive one kilometre would require nearly 4,000 carrots!
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CORRECT ANSWERS
9. second
10. China
11. 4,500 years
12. purple
13. (a) medicine
14. paintings
15. wet
16. cook
17. sun (from)
18. fuel
