CELPIP Listening Part 4 Practice Test: A Backyard Rink

NARRATOR: For the past six winters, the Tremblay family of Sherbrooke, Quebec, has flooded part of their backyard to create a skating rink for their two young daughters. This year, however, the rink has become something considerably bigger. After a neighbour posted a photograph of it online in December, families from throughout the neighbourhood began dropping by after supper with skates and hockey sticks. On most evenings now, twenty or thirty people gather around the boards, and someone usually brings a thermos of hot chocolate. Luc Tremblay admits the attention caught him off guard. Maintaining the ice means getting up before dawn to resurface it with a hose, and his water bill has nearly doubled. Rather than turn anyone away, though, he set out a coffee tin for donations, which now covers the extra water and then some. Neighbours have pitched in as well. A retired plumber volunteered to install an outdoor tap that won't freeze, and teenagers from down the street clear the surface after every snowfall. Tremblay says the unexpected reward is that he finally knows the names of people who have lived on his street for years. The family has already promised to rebuild the rink next winter, though they joke they may need a bigger yard.