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CELPIP Listening Part 4: Listening to a News Item

CELPIP Listening Part 4 Practice Test: A Teenager's Snow-Clearing Robot

By Iris

A free Listening Part 4 practice test in the CELPIP format: 5 questions with the answer key. Play each recording once, as in the real test, answer, then check your answers at the bottom of the page. The transcript is under each recording.

Questions
5
Format
1 news report, questions after it
Question style
Multiple choice, 4 options
Play like the real test
Each recording plays once, then each question with 30 seconds to answer (Parts 4–6: one timer for the part). No pausing to replay, like test day.

  1. Owen built the robot mainly because

  2. The first version of the robot

  3. Doris Lalonde suggests that she

  4. Owen intends to

  5. We can infer that the engineering companies

Transcript (read it after you answer)

NARRATOR: A teenager in Sudbury, Ontario, has transformed a dreaded winter chore into an award-winning invention. Last winter, sixteen-year-old Owen Tremblay shovelled the driveway of his elderly neighbour, Doris Lalonde, every snowy morning before school, and frequently arrived late for his first class. Determined to find an alternative, he constructed a compact, battery-powered robot from salvaged components, including the motor of a discarded electric wheelchair and the blade of a broken snowblower. Operated through a smartphone application he programmed himself, the machine clears a typical driveway in roughly twenty minutes while Tremblay finishes breakfast. His first prototype, he admits, repeatedly toppled over on icy patches until his grandfather suggested replacing its wheels with wider rubber tracks. Last month, the invention captured first prize at a national science competition in Ottawa, along with a $5,000 scholarship. Several engineering companies have since contacted the family, but Tremblay insists he is in no hurry to sell the design. For now, his priority is building a second robot for another neighbour down the street. Lalonde, for her part, confesses she rather misses their morning conversations at the end of the driveway.

0 of 5 answered

Answer key

Show all 5 answers
  1. Owen built the robot mainly because A. his morning chore was interfering with school.
  2. The first version of the robot D. kept falling over on ice.
  3. Doris Lalonde suggests that she B. enjoyed chatting with Owen.
  4. Owen intends to C. help someone else on his street.
  5. We can infer that the engineering companies D. see commercial potential in the robot.

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