IELTS Recent Actual Test 5 - Part 2 (Listen and Read)

Hello there.

I was asked to tell you about the extent of the damage to the main building, caused by the recent storm.

Oh, that's right. I take it that most of the damage is just to the main building?

It is indeed, since the building is so old.

However, luckily, the damage is minor,

and all of it can be fixed in one day, given that we have five people in our team.

What will you be doing first? I understand you start at 8 in the morning.

That's right,

and we were going to remove the fallen tree,

but we've been told there are exams that morning,

and I'm sure the sound of those saws and other heavy equipment will disturb all the students,

so instead we'll fix that leaky roof.

That's a 4-hou job, since it involves substantial repair,

not like fixing broken windows, which can be done quite quickly.

So you'll fix the broken window after that, from midday?

We could do that,

but since we'll be working in the ceiling, it's more logical to get rid of those birds' nests there.

It's a small job but will require crawling inside the ceiling cavity,

which is not an easy exercise, so that will take about an hour.

But this is good, since by that time the exams should be over,

and we can address that tree which has been blown over,

after our 1-hour lunch break of course.

It will be quite noisy dealing with that, but it will be finished by three o'clock.

Some of our staff will then leave to fix things on another site,

an office nearby needs a new window,

but two of us, including myself, will remain here to paint over that discoloured patch of wall in your office.

Oh good, it looks so horrible at the moment.

Well, we'll certainly make it look good once again,

and in the last hour of our working day, we'll fix up that problem with the wiring.

Apparently the power doesn't go to one of the classrooms.

Probably some water has gotten into the fuse box,

so we'll just change a few wires, and clean up the moisture, and it should be fine.

I certainly appreciate all the effort you and your team are taking to fix things here,

but I do have one request.

And what is that?

You said you're going to paint the back wall in my office.

Will it be the same colour as before?

Yes, we'll make it a nice white colour.

Well that's the point. I'd prefer it to be yellow, to match the furniture.

The furniture is orange, actually, but I think yellow is a nice match.

Can you do that?

We can certainly do that. Yellow it is.

Certainly a prettier colour than just plain white,

or the blue in my kitchen at home for that matter.

And we can leave the paint can with you, in case you need to do some touch-ups,

or if the stain reappears.

I'll just leave it in the garden shed, the one next to the main classroom.

And incidentally, about those birds in the ceiling.

I was just investigating, and I heard the chirping of little baby birds in there,

so there must be some young ones in a nest.

I just thought you'd like to know that we can give them to a wildlife reserve.

There's one in the next suburb, so that should not be too much trouble.

Or you could give them to one of our teachers.

I have a colleague who can raise them.

I would say the wildlife reserve is a better option,

since the people there are used to dealing with animals,

and as for that fallen tree, we'll cut it up into small pieces

and that can be firewood in my house, so that won't be wasted either,

although the smoke will cause some pollution,

but I have a special licence for my fireplace, so no one can object to that.

I've noticed also that the university has a garden bin, for the smaller items,

leaves and sticks and bark, and so on,

so we can dispose of material in that, also.

You do have some waste piles out the back,

but a proper garden bin means that the material will be recycled,

and that's better for the environment, so you can rest assured we will use that.