CELPIP Listening Part 1 Practice Test: Car Trouble

MAN: You look like you're having a rough afternoon. Need a hand?

WOMAN: My car's around the corner and won't start. Nothing when I turn the key.

MAN: Not even a click? I've got a set with clamps in my trunk, but they're no use unless it's the battery.

WOMAN: How would I tell? I've been on hold with roadside on my cell twenty minutes, still ninth in line.

MAN: Quicker than that. Switch your headlights on and watch them.

WOMAN: I tried that already, out there with my flashlight. They come up bright, then sag right down.

MAN: That's your battery. If they'd held steady I'd have said starter.

WOMAN: I do own a booster pack. My brother made me buy one.

MAN: Is it in the car?

WOMAN: Plugged into the wall in my hall closet.

MAN: Then we'll use mine. I'll pull around beside yours.

WOMAN: Thanks. There's white crust on one of the posts. Should I get my wrench and clean them off first?

MAN: Crust that thin isn't what's stopping you, and a post that comes off doesn't always go back on. Leave it.

WOMAN: I'll go pop the hood.

WOMAN: That did not sound good. It caught, but it cranked four or five seconds.

MAN: That's slow. Did you keep it running after I unhooked you?

WOMAN: Ten minutes, right here. Then I shut it off to move my bag, and the restart was worse.

MAN: Don't shut it off again. Take it up to Fraser Street while it's still turning. They'll test it for nothing.

WOMAN: Could that wait an hour? My prescription's at the pharmacy, and that counter closes at five-thirty.

MAN: Their tester's gone by five, so no. And if you pull into the pharmacy lot, you may not pull out of it.

WOMAN: I could always flag someone down for another boost.

MAN: You could. A boost only lends you charge, though — it does nothing about whatever's losing it.

WOMAN: The parts store's right beside them. Should I pick up a battery there?

MAN: I'd buy nothing yet. If the charging system's the problem, you're a hundred and forty down and still stuck.

WOMAN: Wonderful. There goes my afternoon. Fine — test first, wallet shut.

MAN: My number's on the back of this receipt. Tell me what they find; I'm around till six.

WOMAN: It's me, from the parking lot. It failed the test in about a minute. The charging side's perfect — so that's the hundred and forty I'm not spending.

MAN: Good news. Are they putting a new one in?

WOMAN: That's what I'm deciding. Two hundred and ten, in today, two years on it. My cousin says the same battery's a hundred and thirty online.

MAN: It probably is. It also doesn't turn up till Thursday, and until then you're driving on one that's already quit once.

WOMAN: He'd put it in for me on the weekend.

MAN: Putting it in isn't what I'd worry about. It's the four days before.

WOMAN: No, you're right. Two-ten still stings, though.

MAN: Then ask whether the old one's still inside its warranty. Nobody volunteers that, and it comes off the bill.

WOMAN: The receipt's in a drawer at home, and I'm not crossing town.

MAN: You won't have to. There's a date stamped on the case.

WOMAN: I'll ask, then. Either way, they're putting it in before I leave.

MAN: Sensible. And keep a set of cables in that trunk someday.

WOMAN: It's on the list. Thanks again for stopping.