Listening audioscript

1. WHY DOES THE STUDENT GO TO SEE THE OFFICE WORKER? 
2. DOES THE OFFICE WORKER EMPHASIZE EACH OF THESE REQUIREMENTS? 
3. WHY DOES THE STUDENT ASK ABOUT THE QUESTION ON
HIGH SCHOOL RANKING? 
LISTEN AGAIN TO PART OF THE CONVERSATION. THEN ANSWER THE 
QUESTION. 
(Woman) 
If your application has information missing it will be much easier for them 
to decide against you. I mean, they’ll give the scholarship to some 
other…um, equally qualified candidate whose information is complete.
Besides, it’s academics so attention to detail matters. They want you to 
show them that you can dot all your “i’s” and cross all your “t’s.” 
WHAT DOES THE OFFICE WORKER MEAN WHEN SHE SAYS THIS? 
 (Woman) 
They want you to show them that you can dot all your “i’s” and cross all 
your “t’s.” 
5. WHAT DOES THE OFFICE WORKER SAY ABOUT THE LETTERS OF 
REFERENCE? 
Page 433
[ mp3 196-197] 
 
Questions 6 through 11. 
Listen to a discussion in an oceanography class. 
(Professor) 
OK, in this course, we’ve discussed a number of the ocean’s unusual 
features. Today, we’re going to discuss atolls and how they’re formed. 
First, can you tell me what an atoll is? Beth? 

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LPREP IBT 3 E AudioScript 
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(Student 1) 
An atoll’s a ring-shaped mass of coral and algae found in tropical and 
subtropical areas of the ocean. 
(Professor) 
That’s…uh, that’s exactly it. Oh, you’re reading from the book, I see. So 
then, since you’ve got the book open, tell me why they’re only found in 
warm, tropical or sub-tropical water. 
(Student 1) 
Um, is it because the coral and reef-building algae grow best in warm 
water? 
(Professor) 
Yes, exactly. OK, now, let’s look at how atolls are formed. We’ll look at a 
series of three diagrams and discuss what’s happening in each. Now this 
diagram shows the first step in the process. Here you see a volcanic 
island . . . a newer volcanic island that has formed recently. It rises up 
from the ocean floor, spewing out lava into the sea and growing until it 
finally breaks the surface. At some point, however, it loses the source of 
energy underneath…maybe the crust moves away from a hotspot, um, a 
big bubble of magma underneath, for example. But the volcano stops 
shooting out new lava and growing. 
 
Now, in warm waters a coral reef begins to grow around the volcanic 
island. The water has to be shallow enough for the light of the sun to 
reach the coral. So… the coral itself can’t grow from the deep sea floor.
However, it can grow in the shallow waters that surround our volcanic 
island – even if this island is in the middle of the ocean, far from anything 
else. 
OK, now let’s look at the second diagram. The second diagram 
shows that the volcanic island has started to erode—it’s wearing down. 
And what’s been happening with the coral reef while the volcanic island 
has been eroding? Well, it has continued to grow, and is now called a 
barrier reef. Now, not only does the volcanic island erode through the 
power of wind and waves, but the sea floor actually subsides, bringing 
the volcano down. 
You can sort of imagine this if you think of a bubble in a jar of honey.
Really any liquid does the same thing, but honey is much more viscous, 
a little closer to the rocks that make up the sea floor, so it’s easier to 
picture. The pressure of the magma below the sea floor is like this 
bubble, which rises and pushes up the surface of the honey. When the 
bubble bursts, releasing all of its pressure, this is like when the volcano 
goes extinct. So since there’s no longer any pressure from the air bubble 
pushing up the surface of the honey, the slight rise in the surface begins 
to subside, and this is like what happens in the sea floor. Since there’s 
no longer pressure of the hot magma below the volcanic island, the sea 
floor actually begins to cool and fall, and our island begins to sink below 
the surface of the water. You can see this with your mind’s eye as you 
think of how the surface of the honey will sink back to the same level as 
everything around it after the bubble bursts. 
(Student 2) 
Professor, why doesn’t the coral sink with the island? 
(Professor) 
Well actually, it does. But the thing is that the island subsides so slowly 
that it leaves plenty of time for the coral to continue to grow upward, 
always staying near the surface of the water and the sunlight. It also 
continues to grow outward, expanding the atoll…oh, but I’m getting 
ahead of myself.

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LPREP IBT 3 E AudioScript 
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Now let’s look at the third diagram in the series. In this diagram, you 
can see that the volcanic island has, um, worn down and sunk so far that 
it’s below the surface of the ocean. The coral has built up even further, 
so the coral’s above the water while the remains of the volcano are under 
water. So… it’s at this stage when the ring of coral is called an atoll. The 
volcano has sunk, and there’s a pool of water inside the atoll called a 
lagoon. Now in the diagram, you see gaps in the coral ring, but there 
may not be any.
On the outer edge of the coral reef, waves and wind continue to mix and 
churn the water and nutrients, and the conditions are excellent for the 
coral to continue to grow. And so the coral continues to expand outward 
and upward. At the same time, the inner ring of the reef…um, that is the 
lagoon side, the conditions for coral growth degenerate. The shallow 
lagoon begins to have a shortage of the nutrients necessary for healthy 
coral growth, and the inner ring of the coral begins to fall apart into white 
sand. Incidentally, it’s this sand and the change in nutrient content of the 
lagoon that cause it to change in color to a turquoise or teal, making a 
really stunning contrast with the deep blue of the ocean surrounding the 
atoll.
So, now let’s look at some pictures of different atolls, and you’ll see 
this color difference I’m describing. Oh, as usual in my lectures, I’m 
giving you the simplified version to start, but reality is delightfully more 
complex. The diagram I’ve begun with…um, the one we’ve just been 
looking at…it shows the standard formation of the typical atoll – but there 
are some variations on the theme, including some spectacular atoll 
chains, so uh let’s take a look at some pictures.