Part 4 summaries: a lecture on tracking migrating animals
You can use the grammar of a summary to predict each answer, and hear it through the lecturer's different words.
Part 4 is the last part of Listening: one person, usually a lecturer, talking about an academic subject. Nobody interrupts or asks them to repeat anything, and you hear it once.
This lecture is about the tags biologists fix to animals that migrate. Your questions are a summary of it with ten words missing, written in different words from the lecture.
Warm-up
What kind of word?
No recording yet. Decide what kind of word the gap needs before you hear anything.
Read thisThe team fitted a small ______ to each bat before releasing it.
What kind of word fits the gap?
How it works
Complete the summary below. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
TRACKING ANIMALS ON THE MOVE
For over a century, birds have been fitted with numbered metal rings, placed on one of their 31. The method depends on the same bird being found again, and it shows nothing about the 32 the bird followed. Radio tags provide much more 33, but the person following the signal cannot move out of 34.
Satellite tags work anywhere. However, the heaviest part of a satellite tag is usually its 35, and this makes the tags too heavy for small songbirds. These birds can carry geolocators, which record 36 levels to show where the bird has been, but the bird has to be 37 again before the data can be read.
At sea, turtles can send signals because they come up to 38. Pop-up tags on sharks rise to the 39 on a date chosen in advance. Tracking has also shown that if stopover sites are lost, a bird population may 40.
Part 4 has the last ten questions, 31 to 40. A summary is written in full sentences, so the grammar around each gap helps you.
The method
- 1Read the title and the first sentence
They give you the topic and the point where the lecture begins. This summary starts with rings, so the lecture will too.
- 2Predict each gap from its grammar
A or an before a gap means one thing. One of their means a plural. Has to be is followed by a form such as taken or sent.
- 3Listen for the idea
The summary rewords the lecture, so the words around each gap are usually different from the speaker's. The answer itself is a word the speaker says.
- 4Move with the talk
The gaps follow the order of the lecture, and two can come a few seconds apart. Once you have written an answer, look straight at the next gap.
- 5Check form and spelling
The word must fit the sentence, with a plural s if it needs one, and be spelled correctly.
One idea, two sets of words
The method depends on the same bird being found again.
It only tells you anything if somebody finds that same bird again.
Question 31: the ring
Play the first clip once, as in the exam, and complete gap 31 with one word.
Clip 1: rings
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
For over a century, birds have been fitted with numbered metal rings, placed on one of their .
Write no more than 1 word.
Watch me do one
Gap 31 says placed on one of their ______. Before the clip starts, I know two things: it is part of a bird, and one of their means a plural.
The lecturer starts with ringing, so I know I'm in the right place. Then she says fitted around one of the bird's legs.
The summary says placed on, and she says fitted around. The words are different but mean the same thing. The answer itself is her word, unchanged.
I write legs. With leg, the summary's grammar would break and the mark would go.
Gap 32 comes in the same clip, a few seconds later. So as soon as I've written legs, my eyes go to the next gap.
Practice with Elita6 questions
The rest of the lecture, in order. Play each clip once, as you would in the exam.
Question 32: what rings cannot show
Gap 32 is in the same part of the lecture. Play clip 1 again and write one word.
Clip 1: rings
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
The method depends on the same bird being found again, and it shows nothing about the the bird followed.
Write no more than 1 word.
Questions 33 and 34: radio tags
Two gaps in one clip. Before you play it, work out whether each gap wants a noun, a verb or an adjective.
Clip 2: radio tags
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
Radio tags provide much more , but the person following the signal cannot move out of .
Write no more than 1 word in each gap.
Question 35: satellite tags
Write one word. The lecturer says several things about weight, so listen for a part of the tag.
Clip 3: satellite tags
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In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
However, the heaviest part of a satellite tag is usually its , and this makes the tags too heavy for small songbirds.
Write no more than 1 word.
Questions 36 and 37: geolocators
Two gaps. Gap 37 comes after has to be, so it needs a verb in a particular form.
Clip 4: geolocators
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
These birds can carry geolocators, which record levels to show where the bird has been, but the bird has to be again before the data can be read.
Write no more than 1 word in each gap.
Questions 38 and 39: animals at sea
Two gaps again. Gap 38 follows come up to, and gap 39 follows rise to the.
Clip 5: animals at sea
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
At sea, turtles can send signals because they come up to . Pop-up tags on sharks rise to the on a date chosen in advance.
Write no more than 1 word in each gap.
Question 40: what tracking has shown
The last gap needs a verb after may. Several verbs come close together, so check which one fits the summary.
Clip 6: stopover sites
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
Tracking has also shown that if stopover sites are lost, a bird population may .
Write no more than 1 word.
Words to keep
Move from one region to another, usually with the seasons. Many birds migrate south for the winter.
A small device fixed to an animal to record or send information. The tag records light levels every few minutes.
Let an animal go free. Each bird is released straight after ringing.
The distance over which a signal can be received. The researcher has to stay within range of the animal.
Produce young. The birds return to the same wood to breed each spring.
Become smaller in number. The population declined after the wetland was drained.
Protecting animals, plants and the places they live. Tracking data now guides conservation work.
Before you go
Before the talk starts, read the words around each gap and predict the kind of word that fits.
Expect the summary to reword the lecture, and listen for the idea.
Write the word the lecturer says, then read the summary sentence again with it in place. A missing plural s loses the mark.
The gaps follow the order of the talk. If you miss one, go straight to the next.
Next: In the next lesson you plan and record a Part 2 talk about an object or invention you find useful.