B1
Practice Listening Business English Exercises for B1 – Projects
8 bài tập
1. Exercise 1
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
2. Exercise 2
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.
3. Exercise 3
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 |
4. Exercise 4
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?
5. Exercise 5
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

6. Test
Audio
- 1)Listen to the speaker and choose the correct response a, b or c.
- 1)a b c
- 2)a b c
- 3)a b c
- 4)a b c
- 5)a b c
7. You will hear eight short recordings twice. For questions 1–8 choose the correct answer.
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.


8. Listen to a radio interview with Gina Velas, an expert in project management. Choose the correct option a, b or c.
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.
Cách Luyện tập
- 1Đọc kỹ từng câu hỏi
- 2Viết câu trả lời của bạn hoặc chọn phương án đúng
- 3Nhấp vào 'Hiện Đáp án' để kiểm tra bài làm của bạn
- 4Xem lại bất kỳ lỗi nào và thử các bài tập tương tự
- 5Chuyển sang bài tập tiếp theo khi đã sẵn sàng