Listening Comprehension Test for 9th Form Students

STAGE III NATIONAL STUDENTS OLYMPIAD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Listening Comprehension Test for 9th Form Students

Scientists have shown that Mozart has a positive effect on many things, but the great composer himself might be surprised that his music helps bananas ripen. A Japanese fruit company, Toyoka Chuo Seika, claims its bananas taste better after being exposed to Mozart’s music for a week. The company has special “ripening chambers” that play wall-to-wall Mozart to its Philippine bananas non-stop for a week. Company officials say "String Quartet No. 17" and "Piano Concerto No. 5 in D major" are particularly good at sweetening the fruit. The company is very confident its methods work. It has started selling its fruit as "Mozart Bananas" in local supermarkets.
A spokesperson believes the bananas will become a hit throughout the rest of Japan once word gets out. Toyoka Chuo Seika is not the first Japanese company to experiment with classical music to produce better tasting food. The “Japan Times” newspaper reports this is the latest in a trend spanning ten years. It writes: “Over the past few decades, a wide variety of foods and beverages have been exposed to classical vibrations — soy sauce in Kyoto, udon noodles in Tokyo, miso in Yamagata, maitake mushrooms in Ishikawa and "Beethoven Bread" in Nagoya, to name a few.” The paper reports on a 1973 study into music and plants by botanist Dorothy Retallack. It says: “After playing various kinds of music to plants for three hours daily, she found they "preferred" soothing classical, which made them flourish. Rock and country, on the other hand, had either a debilitating effect or none at all.”

STAGE III NATIONAL STUDENTS OLYMPIAD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Listening Comprehension Test for 9th Form Students

Task1.  Choose whether the statements are True or False.

  1. Beethoven’s music helps bananas ripen.
  2. A Japanese fruit company bananas’ taste better after listening to Mozart.
  3. The Japanese company has ripening chambers for its bananas.
  4. The company has started selling bananas as “Musical Bananas.”
  5. Playing music to bananas is the first experiment of its kind.
  6. The Japan Times reported that soy sauce was the only sauce to be tested.
  7. Dorothy Retallack’s study says that plants like classical music.
  8. Rock and country music sometimes had an effect.

Task2.  Choose the best answer.

    • Mozart might
    1. like classical music.
    2. be surprised his music helps ripen bananas.
    3. like apples.
    • Bananas taste better
    1. after being exposed to Mozart for a week
    2. with chocolate.
    3. when they are fresh.
    • The Japanese company is
    1. always very hungry.
    2. very confident its methods work.
    3. sad that experiments didn’t work.
    • A spokesperson believes
    1. Bananas will become popular in Japan soon.
    2. bananas are bad for you.
    3. That people like other fruit better than bananas.
    4. There will be a larger population of monkeys in Japan soon.
    • The “Japan Times” reports this is the latest in a trend spanning:
    1. 1 year
    2. 5 years
    3. 10 years
    4. 20 years
    • One of the foods tested is now called:
    1. Davinci pizza
    2. Franklin burgers
    3. Shevchenko salad
    4. Beethoven bread
    • A report from 1973 found that plants prefer:
      • Classical music
      • Rock music
      • Punk music
      • Disco music
      fПоширити