Practice Listening Business English Exercises for B1 – Projects

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Audio

A. Listen. Match each canal with two facts.
1)
The Grand Canal
2)
The Suez Canal
3)
The Panama Canal
a)
took the longest to build.
b)
was more expensive than expected.
c)
was cheaper than expected.
d)
is the oldest.
e)
took ten years to build.
f)
opened in 1914.
B. Listen again. Complete the information about each project.
Grand Canal, China
Length: (1) ) km
The budget: none
The schedule: none – took about (2) ) years to complete
The team: (3) ) million men and women – mostly labourers and engineers
Minimum width: 100 m
Minimum depth: less than 1 m
Suez Canal, Egypt
The schedule: late by (4) ) years
The team: (5) ) million people in total, (6) ) at any given time – labourers, engineers, accountants, project managers
The cost: $100 million, over budget by (7) ) percent
Length: (8) ) km
Minimum depth: 12 m
Minimum width: (9) ) m
Panama Canal, Panama
Length: (10) ) km
The schedule: the American project was late by (11) ) years
The team: 75,000 engineers, specialised machine operators, labourers
The cost: $(12) ) million – $23 million under budget
Minimum width: (13) ) m
Minimum depth: (14) ) m

Audio

A. Listen and complete the extracts.
1)
It’s the artificial waterway in the world.
2)
But what’s than the length of the canal is its age.
3)
When they were working the on the project, five million men and women were involved in the construction.
4)
They finished than planned.
5)
It is still one of the shipping routes in the world.
6)
The canal makes the journey between the North Atlantic and the Indian Ocean much than going around Africa.
7)
It reduces the trip by 7,000 kilometres, making the journey and time-consuming.
8)
The Panama team had to work a lot than the Suez team.
9)
Construction in the jungles of Panama wasn’t digging in Egypt’s dry, sandy desert.
10)
In fact the digging itself was the part of the job.

Audio

A. Listen to three bids to provide a new computer network for a shipping company. Answer the questions.
1)
Which supplier can start the soonest?
2)
Which supplier is the cheapest?
B. Listen again and complete the notes.

	Bid A	Bid B	Bid C
When they can start
How long it will take
Can we continue using the office?
Product support
Guarantee
Price

Audio

A. Listen to a team leader explaining a new procedure for meetings. What type of meeting is it?
B. Listen again and answer the questions.
1)
How long does she expect the meeting to take?
2)
What is the aim of the meeting?
3)
How often will the meetings take place?
4)
What time will the meeting start?
5)
What is the ball for?
6)
What information will each person give?
7)
What will happen after the meeting?

Audio

A. Read the agenda for a meeting between Lily, M&PR’s Account Manager and Carlos, the Project Manager for the grand opening. Then listen and match each item on the agenda with the time it should be completed (a-d).
AGENDA
Project: Casa Paradiso grand opening
Meeting date: 1 August
Event date: 1 October
1)
‘Save the date’ invitations to guest list
2)
Contract with actress Lana Gabler-Jones
3)
Engineer to explain wind turbines
4)
Food order for the event
a)
Can do tomorrow
b)
Don’t need to do this
c)
Get Sarah to do this on 15 September
d)
Need to do today
B. Read the project priority box. Match each item on the agenda with a number in the box

Audio

Audio

2)
You will hear eight short recordings twice. For questions 1–8 choose the correct answer.
1)
Which project are they starting now?
2)
What was the manager’s worst problem?
a)
number of employees
b)
weather conditions
c)
quality of materials
3)
Which hotel does the woman decide to stay at?
a)
Twig
b)
Wold
c)
Min
4)
How long will the installation take?
a)
2 days
b)
6 days
c)
4 days
5)
What is the woman going to do before the meeting?
a)
go sightseeing
b)
look at apartments
c)
have lunch
6)
Why won’t the architect change the building plans?
a)
The changes aren’t safe.
b)
The site’s too small.
c)
It’s against building regulations.
7)
How do they arrive at the project site?
8)
What mistake did the man make?
a)
He ordered too many desks.
b)
He ordered the wrong equipment.
c)
He didn’t order the right number of chairs.

Audio

3)
Listen to a radio interview with Gina Velas, an expert in project management. Choose the correct option a, b or c.
1)
What does the interviewer say about failure?
a)
It’s a good way to learn.
b)
You can’t afford to fail.
c)
It’s caused by a lack of experience.
2)
What does Gina say about experience and skills?
a)
Project managers must train their teams.
b)
Teams must evaluate their own skills.
c)
Project managers should have relevant training.
3)
Project managers should set goals that are
a)
challenging.
b)
clearly defined.
c)
simple.
4)
Why does Gina say about changing goals?
a)
Clients are unable to assess them.
b)
It often affects the budget.
c)
Project managers like making changes.
5)
What can poor communication skills lead to?
a)
project failure
b)
team disappointment
c)
weak managers
6)
What else can demotivate a team?
a)
pressure from other staff
b)
not having enough resources
c)
losing control
7)
What does Gina say about unexpected problems?
a)
Risk assessment predicts all problems.
b)
Allow extra time for them.
c)
Schedules are always flexible.

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