# Sporting Activities at School: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 17, Test 4, Listening Part 3

Source: Recording, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 17, Test 4, Listening Part 3. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 21 | C, E | all my classmates assumed I would achieve it ... They thought I was brilliant. |
| 22 | C, E | I think I should have practiced more. |
| 23 | A, D | I just kept thinking how fortunate I was, what a great chance this was. |
| 24 | A, D | I thought 'this can't be happening'! |
| 25 | B | a factory was making rolls of the rubber in bulk, for something like horse harnesses |
| 26 | F | was booed and jeered by people watching because it was so ugly |
| 27 | A | serious cyclists ended up with wet hair from all the hard exercise |
| 28 | D | It would easily break, and players had to get another. |
| 29 | C | when the game started, you had to produce a stick yourself |
| 30 | G | You can imagine the damage to players' necks when the ball was headed. |

## Why these answers are right

**21. C, E.** Thomas says his classmates assumed he would become a professional athlete and thought he was brilliant. Classmates who think you are brilliant admire you, so E is one correct point about his school sport.

**22. C, E.** Thomas says his parents perhaps should have pushed him harder and that he should have practiced more. Practicing more is working harder, so C is the second point, along with his classmates' admiration in E.

**23. A, D.** In Kenya Thomas kept thinking how fortunate he was and what a great chance it was. Feeling fortunate for an opportunity is gratitude, so D is one of his two feelings.

The why and the trap for questions 24 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/listening/sporting-activities-at-school/answers).

## Transcript

**Announcer:** Part 3, you will hear two students called Jeanne and Thomas discussing their sport science course.

**Announcer:** First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.

**Announcer:** Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.

**Jeanne:** Hi, Thomas.

**Jeanne:** How are you enjoying the course so far?

**Thomas:** Yeah, I think it's good.

**Jeanne:** Remind me why did you decide to study sports science?

**Jeanne:** Didn't you want to be a professional athlete when you were at school?

**Thomas:** Yeah, that was my goal, and all my classmates assumed I would achieve it.

**Thomas:** They thought I was brilliant.

**Jeanne:** That must have been a nice feeling.

**Thomas:** Hmm, I thought I could win anything.

**Thomas:** There was no one who could run faster than me.

**Jeanne:** Exactly.

**Jeanne:** So what happened?

**Jeanne:** Did your mom and dad want you to be more academic?

**Thomas:** Not at all.

**Thomas:** Perhaps they should have pushed me harder, though.

**Jeanne:** What do you mean?

**Thomas:** I think I should have practiced more.

**Jeanne:** What makes you say that?

**Thomas:** Well, I went out to Kenya for a couple of weeks to train.

**Jeanne:** Really!

**Jeanne:** I didn't know that.

**Thomas:** I was chosen to go there out of loads of kids and run with some of the top teenage athletes in the world.

**Thomas:** And I was so calm about it.

**Thomas:** I just kept thinking how fortunate I was, what a great chance this was.

**Thomas:** Everyone back home was so proud of me.

**Thomas:** But once we started competing, I very quickly realized I wasn't good enough.

**Jeanne:** Hmm, that must have been a huge shock.

**Thomas:** I thought 'this can't be happening'!

**Thomas:** I was used to winning.

**Jeanne:** I'm sorry to hear that.

**Thomas:** It's OK.

**Thomas:** I'm over it now.

**Thomas:** And I think it's much better to do a university course.

**Thomas:** And this one has such a variety of sports related areas.

**Thomas:** It's going to be good.

**Jeanne:** Oh, I agree.

**Jeanne:** I chose it because of that.

**Announcer:** Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.

**Announcer:** Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.

**Thomas:** So, Jeanne, have you thought of any ideas for the discussion session next week on technology and sport?

**Jeanne:** We have to cover more than one sport, don't we?

**Thomas:** Yeah.

**Jeanne:** You know, we always think technology is about the future, but we could gather some ideas about past developments in sport.

**Thomas:** Look at early types of equipment, perhaps.

**Thomas:** Uh. I remember reading something about table tennis bats once, how they ended up being covered with pimpled rubber.

**Jeanne:** Cos they were just wooden at first, I'd imagine.

**Thomas:** Yeah.

**Thomas:** In about the 1920s, a factory was making rolls of the rubber in bulk, for something like horse harnesses.

**Jeanne:** Really!

**Thomas:** Yeah, and someone realized that it would make a perfect covering for the wooden bats.

**Jeanne:** So, what about cricket?

**Jeanne:** That's had a few innovative changes, maybe the pads they wear on their legs.

**Thomas:** I don't think they've changed much, but I'm just looking on the internet.

**Thomas:** And it says that when the first cricket helmet came in 1978, the Australian batsman who first wore it was booed and jeered by people watching because it was so ugly!

**Jeanne:** Wow, players have to protect themselves from getting hurt.

**Jeanne:** I mean everyone wears one now.

**Jeanne:** Hmm, unlike the cycle helmet, well unless you're a professional, but you're right.

**Jeanne:** Many ordinary bikers don't wear a helmet.

**Thomas:** Hey, look at these pictures of original helmet designs.

**Thomas:** This one looks like an upside-down bowl.

**Jeanne:** Yet the woman's laughing.

**Jeanne:** Ha, she's so proud to be wearing it.

**Thomas:** It says serious cyclists ended up with wet hair from all the hard exercise.

**Jeanne:** I guess that's why they have large air vents in them now, so that the skin can breathe more easily.

**Thomas:** OK, so we've done helmets.

**Thomas:** What about golf balls?

**Thomas:** Or better still, golf clubs.

**Thomas:** They've changed a lot.

**Jeanne:** Yeah, I remember my great grandfather telling me that because a club was made entirely of wood.

**Jeanne:** It would easily break, and players had to get another.

**Thomas:** There's no wood at all in them now, is there?

**Jeanne:** No, they're much more powerful.

**Thomas:** The same must be true of hockey sticks.

**Jeanne:** Hmm. I don't think so, because players still use wooden sticks today.

**Jeanne:** Hmm. What it does say here though, is that when the game started, you had to produce a stick yourself.

**Thomas:** I guess they just weren't being manufactured.

**Thomas:** So one more perhaps, what about football?

**Jeanne:** Well, I know the first balls were made of animal skin.

**Thomas:** Yeah, they covered them with pieces of leather that were stitched together.

**Thomas:** The balls let in water when it rained.

**Jeanne:** Oh, that would have made them much heavier.

**Thomas:** That's right.

**Thomas:** You can imagine the damage to players' necks when the ball was headed.

**Jeanne:** Oh, how painful that must have been.

**Thomas:** Yeah, well, I think we can put together some useful ideas...

**Announcer:** That is the end of part 3.

**Announcer:** You now have half a minute to check your answers to part 3.

[Practice Sporting Activities at School](https://testmigo.com/ielts/listening/sporting-activities-at-school)