CELPIP Listening Practice Test 39

MAN: This came off my bathroom wall. The whole floor's the same. The wall by the tub is going too.

WOMAN: Nineteen-forties, that glaze. Am I close?

MAN: Close enough. It all comes out tomorrow, and I've no idea how many boxes to order.

WOMAN: The colour's settled, then. Keep that tile in your bag for the order desk. It won't give a quantity.

MAN: I pulled a few loose ones off this morning with my work gloves, so I know what's underneath.

WOMAN: That helps your installer, but it won't get a number. Have you measured anything?

MAN: I paced the long wall. The tub's in an alcove, and I left that corner out.

WOMAN: That corner's a third of the job. It goes back in.

MAN: There's a ladder and a tape in my car. Should I bring it up for the top row?

WOMAN: Leave the ladder — your installer can reach over the tub. Bring the other one and measure every wall, alcove included.

MAN: Round up a bit?

WOMAN: Ten percent, not five. Walls that old are never straight, so half your rows end up cut down.

MAN: Ten percent. I'll do it properly.

WOMAN: You got your numbers, then?

MAN: Fourteen boxes, alcove and all. I did it twice. Now I can't decide which tile.

WOMAN: What's the shortlist?

MAN: The glossy white on the clearance rack. Four dollars less a box, and it's the closest thing to my old one. The same tile comes in a textured finish, but that's full price.

WOMAN: I'd think about where it's going. Wet feet coming out of the tub onto a gloss floor — that's a skating rink.

MAN: I'd throw a mat down.

WOMAN: A mat covers a metre. The rest is soaked every morning.

MAN: Hm. My dad's in and out of that bathroom, too.

WOMAN: The finish doesn't change the size, so your fourteen stands either way.

MAN: That's something. Fifty-six dollars more, then.

WOMAN: There's another catch. Clearance is whatever's sitting on it — they won't bring more in, and it's final sale.

MAN: So if I'm two boxes short on the day, I'm stuck with twelve I can't take back.

WOMAN: Right. It isn't the four dollars that would sting.

MAN: No, it isn't. Fine. Textured it is. I'll miss that price, but I'd rather not gamble on the boxes.

MAN: The textured's a problem. Nine boxes in the back, and I need fourteen.

WOMAN: What did the desk say?

MAN: Hold the nine, add five off Thursday's pallet. I'd have them by Thursday afternoon.

WOMAN: Off a different pallet, though. Tile's baked in batches, so those five would sit a shade off your nine.

MAN: On a bathroom floor, would anyone see that?

WOMAN: You would, every morning. Get them to pull all fourteen from Thursday's pallet instead.

MAN: They'll do that for a deposit, and the desk is open till six. That part's fine. It's the delivery — the truck only runs Friday.

WOMAN: Then don't wait for the truck. How far out are you?

MAN: Fifteen minutes. I'll load them myself Thursday. Which leaves my installer standing in an empty bathroom tomorrow at eight.

WOMAN: Couldn't he take the old floor out tomorrow and lay it later?

MAN: He offered. I said no — I'm not walking on bare concrete for three days. He's got Friday morning free, so I'll take that.

WOMAN: Sensible. And don't let anyone talk you back into the gloss just because it's by the checkout.

MAN: After all this? Not a chance.

MAN: Hi Priya, did the equipment manager find our missing training jerseys? The coach asked whether we had a solution before he sends the final message about what everybody should bring.

WOMAN: Hey Anton. Six are still at the laundry service, which closes before anyone can collect them tonight. The service promised them tomorrow morning, which is too late for practice.

MAN: We have fourteen players at practice. Could half wear regular shirts? We don't need a perfect match for the team kit, just a way to tell who's defending against whom.

WOMAN: We are rehearsing defensive formations, so the coach needs two sides that are easy to distinguish.

MAN: The youth team has yellow vests in the storage room. They used them at the open day, so I know they're there. I'm less sure how many would fit adults.

WOMAN: Twelve vests, but four are child-sized. I first thought we could borrow from the senior team, yet they practise at the same time.

MAN: We only need seven markers for one side. Are at least seven adult vests usable? Marking both sides would look tidier, but one clearly different colour should be enough for what we're practising.

WOMAN: Eight. One has a torn strap, but the other seven are fine.

MAN: Then one group wears yellow and the other keeps normal dark shirts. Nobody needs the missing jerseys.

WOMAN: That works if everyone brings a dark top. Two players usually arrive directly from work in light shirts. They cannot return home first. I don't want them arriving ready to help and then finding the exercise depends on clothes they couldn't fetch.

MAN: I can pack two spare navy shirts, although they may not fit perfectly.

WOMAN: Fit matters less for a formation walk-through. I will message the group before they leave work.

MAN: After practice, I will return the vests and leave the torn one aside with a repair note. That way the next person won't count it as usable and discover the problem only after handing everything out.

WOMAN: Good. Tomorrow I will arrange a later laundry pickup so this does not affect Friday’s match rehearsal.

WOMAN: Hi there. Since you're taking over front-desk inquiries this month, I want to walk you through the process for renting out classrooms to outside groups.

MAN: Sounds good. I've fielded a few calls already, but wasn't sure how much I could promise people.

WOMAN: That's exactly why we're doing this. First, when someone calls or emails, you ask about group size and preferred date, then recommend a room that fits. Groups of thirty or fewer go in the Birch Building; anything larger goes to Maple Hall.

MAN: Got it. And once they've picked a room?

WOMAN: Then you fill out the intake form — name of the group, contact info, date, and room number. Gaps in that form come back to bite us later, so double-check it.

MAN: What about payment?

WOMAN: Payment gets collected only after the form is signed and returned. We take cards or cheques, never cash, and the deposit is due within five business days of signing. Actually, hold on — that's for weekday bookings. Weekend rentals require full payment upfront, not just a deposit.

MAN: Okay, that's an important distinction. Who actually handles the money once it comes in?

WOMAN: That responsibility falls to you now. I used to process payments myself, but starting this term, you'll log every transaction in the booking system the same day it's received.

MAN: I can manage that. My one concern is double-bookings — what happens if two groups end up wanting the same room?

WOMAN: It's bound to come up eventually. The general rule of thumb is we defer to whoever booked first, based on the timestamp in the system.

MAN: That seems straightforward enough.

WOMAN: It mostly is, except when a faculty member requests the room for academic use. In that case, the faculty booking takes priority automatically, even if it came in later, as long as it's submitted at least 48 hours before the event.

MAN: So the timestamp rule only applies among outside renters?

WOMAN: Exactly — unless a professor's involved, and only if they've met that 48-hour window; otherwise the original timestamp still wins.

MAN: That's clearer than I expected. So to confirm: I recommend the room, complete the form, collect payment based on the applicable schedule, log it immediately, and apply the priority rule if a conflict comes up?

WOMAN: That's it exactly. If unsure, flag it right away rather than guess.

MAN: Will do — I'd rather ask than get it wrong.

MAN: Teachers in this district began reporting suspicious assignments about eighteen months ago, and until this week they had no common rule to apply when they did. The board of the Cedar Valley School District adopted one on Tuesday, and it is narrower than either camp had asked for. Generative artificial intelligence may not be used to produce any portion of work that carries a grade. It may, however, be used to generate outlines, counterarguments and revision questions. That licence applies only where the classroom teacher has granted permission for that specific assignment in advance. Superintendent Casimir Aubin said the distinction the board settled on is between assistance and substitution. "A tool that asks you a better question is a tutor," Aubin said. "A tool that answers the question for you has taken your place." Students must record any use on a short disclosure form attached to the submission. A first omission is handled by the teacher. A second within the same school year, however, is referred to the principal as academic misconduct, a category that until now covered only plagiarism and cheating on tests. Department head Bronwyn Fenwick, who piloted the disclosure form with two senior classes in April, said the paperwork proved less onerous than expected. Not all parents are reassured. Devinder Bath, who chairs the parent council at the district's largest secondary school, argues that detection remains guesswork and that pupils without internet at home will be judged against a standard they cannot practise. Aubin conceded the point, noting that a review of the policy is set for June, once a full semester of disclosures has been collected.

man2: We keep circling around the format for a school gala raffle, so I want to name the decision before tomorrow's notice. Donations and volunteer shifts have to be confirmed soon.

man1: My worry is that if we choose keeping the collection process simple, money or supplies could be hard to track. The benefit is that it would be easy for volunteers to explain.

woman1: I see that. Still, using a staffed table with a written log may be hard because it may require more volunteers than they have, even though it would make the handoff more reliable.

man2: So both choices solve one problem and create another. The standard should be trust and simple volunteer work.

man1: Then the next step cannot be a final vote. It should include a backup person for the busiest hour.

woman1: What if we staff the busiest period and log only high-value items? We can learn enough without locking ourselves in.

man2: Good. I will check who can cover the table, and you two can draft the volunteer note and identify the busiest time.

man1: Please make the note specific. A generous event can still lose trust if tracking is weak, and I do not want that repeated.

woman1: Agreed. We will review everything after two days of feedback, and then we will confirm volunteers before announcing the process.

MAN: On today's workplace report, Northshore Analytics is considering a change. Management is considering publishing salary ranges for every job level, including roles already held by current employees. Exact salaries would remain private, but the proposal still raises questions about fairness, privacy, and competition. Employee representative Lena Ortiz supports disclosure. People with similar titles may know they are paid differently without knowing whether experience, duties, scarce skills, or negotiation explain the gap. Publishing ranges would not promise identical pay. It would give employees a shared reference point and require managers to explain why someone sits near the bottom, middle, or top of a range. That explanation, she argues, matters more than the number alone because inconsistent decisions become easier to challenge. Engineering manager Mark Chen supports ranges for applicants but is cautious about internal detail. A broad range may create suspicion if placement rules are unclear. A narrow one could show competitors how aggressively Northshore pays for scarce technical skills. Mark also worries that departments may start pushing for upgraded job titles simply to move their staff into higher ranges. In that case, transparency could shift competition from salary negotiation to job classification. Senior analyst Dana Patel supports disclosure in principle, but raises privacy concerns. In a large department, a range may reveal very little about any one person. In a two-person team, coworkers may combine the range with what they know about seniority and duties. They may then make a fairly accurate guess about someone's pay. Dana wants employees to understand the system without turning individual salaries into office conversation. Human resources director Priya Desai proposes publishing ranges for standard job groups while keeping exact salaries private. Each range would explain how experience, responsibilities, performance, and scarce expertise affect placement. HR would also review salaries below the minimum and cases where new hires earn nearly as much as long-serving staff. Priya does not support releasing everything at once. She recommends starting with new job postings and several larger departments, where personal salaries are harder to infer. Managers would be trained, employees could ask questions, and unclear job definitions would be revised before smaller teams joined. The real disagreement is over how much information numbers can fairly provide without context. The likely outcome is a limited pilot that publishes ranges, explains placement, and protects individual salaries. Its success will depend less on opening a spreadsheet than on making pay decisions consistent and open to explanation.