General Listening Quiz

Listen to the recording and read along with the conversation. Review the key vocabulary and the sample sentences.

Apartment Manager: Well, hi Mr. Brown. How’s the apartment working out for you?

Tenant: Well Mr. Nelson. That’s what I’d like to talk to you about. [What?] Well, I want to talk to you about that noise! [Oh] You see. Would you mind talking to the tenant in 4B and ask him to keep his music down, especially after 10:00 o’clock at night?

Apartment Manager: Ohhh. Who me?

Tenant: Why yes. The music is blaring almost every night, and it should be your job as manager to take care of these things.

Apartment Manager: Hey, I just collect the rent. Besides, the man living there is the owner’s son, and he’s a walking refrigerator. [Well . . .] Hey, I’ll see what I can do. Anything else?

Tenant: Well, yes. Could you talk to the owners of the property next door about the pungent odor drifting this way.

Apartment Manager: Well, the area is zoned for agricultural and livestock use, so there’s nothing much I can do about that.

Tenant: Well, what about the . . . . That, that noise.

Apartment Manager: What noise? I don’t hear anything.

Tenant: There, there it is again.

Apartment Manager: What noise?

Tenant: That noise.

Apartment Manager: Oh, that noise. I guess the military has resumed its exercises on the artillery range.

Tenant: You have to be kidding. Can’t anything be done about it?

Apartment Manager: Why certainly. I’ve protested this activity, and these weekly [Weekly!] activities should cease . . . within the next three to five years.

Tenant: Hey, you never told me about these problems before I signed the rental agreement.

• tenant (noun): occupant, resident, lessee
  – I have to talk to the tenant next door about his barking dog.
• blaring (verb): very loud 
  – I can’t do my homework with the TV blaring next door
• walking refrigerator (noun phrase): a very big person (slang)
• pungent (adjective): strong, harsh 
• odor (noun): smell
  – Your dog has a real pungent odor. When was the last time you gave it a bath?
• zone (verb): designated, marked, set aside for
  – This area is zoned for commercial use only, and the city is planning to build several shops here.
• agriculture (noun); also agricultural (adjective): farming
  – The main livelihood of those in this region is agriculture.
• livestock (noun): farm animals
  – We will sell some of our livestock this summer.
• resume (verb): continue, start again
  – Classes will resume at the beginning of September.
• exercises (noun): drills, maneuvers, activities, operations
  – The fire department will carry out its emergency preparedness exercises later this week.
• artillery (noun): large guns, often on wheels, used by armies
  – The army has removed its artillery in anticipation of the peace treaty.
• protest (verb): complain, challenge
  – The residents protested the building of the waste plant within 20 miles of their neighborhood for safety reasons.
• cease (verb): end, stop
  – It is unclear when the steel factory will cease its operations.