[00:00.00Exersise 3
[00:02.98]Part A
[00:05.72]You will hear a talk giving by a fire officer.
[00:10.37]As you listen,answer Questions 1--10 by circling True or False.
[00:18.13]You will hear the talk ONLY ONCE.
[00:21.97]You now have 60 seconds to read Questions 1--10.
[00:27.82]FIRE OFFICER:Good evening ladies and gentlemen.
[00:31.69]I'd like to begin by quoting a few figures at you.
[00:37.33]55,887....,8500...and 1,000.degrees centigrade.
[00:48.80]That is the number of house fires reported last year,
[00:54.13]the number of people killed or injured in those fires,
[01:00.37]and the temperature of the flames given off
[01:05.12]by some items of furniture within 30 seconds of a fire starting.
[01:12.36]All rather alarming.I think you'd agree.
[01:16.80]Well,what can we do to prevent these tragedies?
[01:21.95]In the fire prevention service
[01:25.60]we have three golden rules which we call 'awareness '.
[01:31.25]'precautions',and 'escape.
[01:35.11]I'd like to start by dealing with the first of these--'awareness.
[01:41.46]In the average home there are about half a dozen
[01:46.32]fire hazards or risk factors which we should all be aware of.
[01:53.06]Now the primary hazard is the electrical circuit,
[01:58.02]A lot of us live in older houses,
[02:02.46]and if your wiring is more than 15 years old,
[02:08.10]it may not be up to modern safety standards.
[02:13.56]Check that you have a functioning fuse-box,
[02:18.50]and if you're in any doubt,
[02:21.95]you really ought to get it looked at by a qualified electrician.
[02:28.30]Electrical appliances come second on my list,
[02:33.34]and I'm thinking in particular of televisions and electric blankets.
[02:40.18]Some of you may not know that a colour television
[02:45.04]can generate over 20,000 volts,
[02:50.00]and this voltage can be retained for quite some time
[02:55.15]after a set has been switched off.
[02:59.41]So always switch off
[03:03.14]and disconnect from the mains when you finish watching.
[03:08.60]And don't put a TV in front of curtains or soft furnishings.
[03:14.66]The electric blanket is no longer the danger it was years ago,
[03:20.80]but it was the cause of 14 fatalities last year
[03:26.65]so I think it is still important to remember not to fold them
[03:32.61]and certainly not to use one if it accidentally gets wet.
[03:38.88]I just mentioned soft furnishings
[03:43.82]and this is a hazard which I want to emphasise.
[03:48.68]Many of you may have sofas and armchairs made before 1989--
[03:55.62]when the new fire safety regulations came in.
[04:00.77]Now these may contain polyurethane foam fillings.
[04:06.31]You probably know that these fillings
[04:10.46]can give off extremely poisonous fumes in a fire.
[04:16.10]so if you do have this kind of furniture
[04:20.47]you should either get rid of it
[04:24.41]or have it recovered with flame-retardant cloth--
[04:29.58]which is now widely available and not expensive.
[04:35.12]OK,I'd like to say a few words now about open fires.
[04:41.78]Recently we've noticed quite a fashion to return to open fires,
[04:48.24]especially in older houses.
[04:51.97]Obviously this is quite a hazard,
[04:55.92]and there are one or two fairly obvious things to be aware of.
[05:02.37]Firstly you should always use a fire guard in front of the fireplace,
[05:09.42]and make sure it's a fairly sturdy one.
[05:13.86]Secondly,never dry wet clothes in front of the fire.
[05:20.13]To be honest,if you have young children
[05:24.96]I think you are better off bricking the fire up
[05:29.80]and investing in central heating--
[05:33.77]it might not be so romantic on a winter evening
[05:39.10]but it's certainly a lot safer.
[05:43.04]The final thing I want to draw your attention to is aerosols and bottles.
[05:49.88]Aerosols and bottles often contain flammable liquid or gas,
[05:56.94]so these should never be left in direct sunlight--
[06:01.98]on a window ledge for example.
[06:06.42]You'd be surprised at how quickly sunlight can heat up
[06:11.98]a pressurized container and lead to a fire.
[06:17.42]So keep them in a cupboard or away from windows.
[06:22.59]Right,I'd like to go on now to the area of 'precautions'.
[06:28.73]Smoke detectors are perhaps the most common...
[06:34.08]You now have 20 seconds to check your answers to Questions 1--10.
[06:40.82]Question 1-10 according to Part A.
[06:42.86]1.The golden rules for fire prevention
[06:44.92]are 'awareness','precaution' and 'escape:
[06:46.96]2.The major fire hazard is that a lot of people live in old houses.
[06:49.03]3.TV unplugged after switched off can be dangerous.
[06:51.06]4.Sofa in front of curtains can be a good place for\ putting a TV.
[06:53.13]5.Electric blankets are still as dangerous as they were in the past.
[06:55.16]6.People should fold electric blankets and put them away after using them
[06:57.20]7.Sofas and armchairs that contain potyurethane foam fillings are dangerous
[06:59.27]8.To prevent fire,people should not use open fire in house.
[07:01.30]9.A pressurized container can be heated up
[07:03.37]by sunlight in a short time and lead to a fire
[07:05.40]10.This part of the talk is about how to escape from a fire.
[07:07.47]That is the end of Part A.
[07:11.23]Part B
[07:14.08]You will hear several conversations or talks
[07:19.22]and you must answer the questions by choosing A,B,C or D.
[07:27.97]You will hear the recording ONLY ONCE.
[07:32.94]Questions 11--13 are based on the following dialogue.
[07:39.49]You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11--13.
[07:46.44]M:Did you see that television series with Michael Palm?
[07:51.80]W:The one where he went around the world in eighty days?
[07:57.34]M:Yeah. W:Yeah,it was really good.
[08:01.99]You know,that's something I've always wanted to do.
[08:07.05]M:Me too.Mind you,
[08:11.10]you have to put up with a lot of hassles.
[08:15.44]I mean,I went to Hong Kong last year and it was one long disaster!
[08:22.39]W:Really? M:Yeah,I was stuck in Moscow for three days!
[08:28.84]W:How on earth did that happen?
[08:32.68]M:Well,it was like one of those bucket shop
[08:37.22]tickets,you know,from the back of a magazine.
[08:41.67]I went down to this little place in central London,
[08:46.71]in Soho and paid cash.
[08:50.96]W:But they're usually OK,aren't they?
[08:55.61]M:That's what I thought at the time.Now I know better!
[09:00.76]I mean the plane was delayed two hours leaving Heathrow
[09:06.19]and we were doing a stopover at Moscow.
[09:10.95]It was Aeroflot,like mega-crummy,no drinks,terrible service...
[09:18.21]so we arrived late at Moscow,in the middle of the night,
[09:23.46]and we all went into the transit lounge and after about two hours
[09:29.81]this official came in and told us we'd missed the connection to Hong Kong,
[09:36.97]we'd have to stay the night in the airport hotel... W:But why?
[09:43.03]M:The late departure from Heathrow apparently.
[09:47.47]W:So,what was the hotel like?
[09:51.73]M:Grim...more like a prison really.
[09:56.27]Anyway,the next morning I went down to reception
[10:02.33]and asked what was happening.
[10:06.38]Disaster!
[10:09.33]They'd checked my ticket or something and decided
[10:14.30]it wasn't a proper Aeroflot one,
[10:19.05]only valid for the twice-a-week flight,not the daily flight.
[10:24.80]So I had to sit there and watch
[10:29.13]all the other passengers go off to catch the next plane to Hong Kong
[10:35.38]while I was stuck in this terrible hotel.
[10:40.31]W:Well,a good chance to explore Moscow. M:No way!
[10:46.45]I didn't have a Russian visa,of course,
[10:50.81]so they wouldn't let me out.
[10:54.16]I had to stay there for three days.
[10:58.70]The pits! No TV,no newspapers,no phone lines and the food was gross.
[11:08.06]All because I had this cheap ticket.
[11:12.03]W:I guess you won't be buying cheap tickets again.
[11:16.47]M:You're not wrong!
[11:19.63]You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to Questions 11--13. |