Cynthia Transcript - Parts 2 & 3
Examiner: All right, remember you have 1-2 minutes so don’t worry if I stop you. Can you start please?
Candidate: Um, ok, the, the place where I was, er, last week was Dubai and I was there because I was visiting my best friend, so what I really like about Dubai was the fact that I was there visiting my friend and I found it very, a very great place, er, it’s not so far from Spain, first of all and erm, it has many contrasts, Dubai, because you have a lot of poor people, lot of er, rich people, there is no middle class there and the places you go it’s (bueno) it’s the typical Dubai places with too much gold and (bueno) much glamour and um, on the other hand you have the typical er places er it remind me Pakistan - I lived in Pakistan a couple of years of my life when I was young - it remind me Pakistan or Sri Lanka or (bueno) there are a lot of people from there, because I think in Dubai you have er 85% of the people living there are immigrants and you have a lot of people from Pakistan, from Sri Lanka, from Philippines. Erm, I think they need so much immigrants to build a city, that’s what they are doing there. One, one thing that it’s not, (bueno) I found it a problem, er, in Dubai was the fact that, there’s a lot, there are a lot of cranes everywhere so there are no buses, there are no er, subways, so you have to take the car for everything, going to the supermarket, taking the kids to school, erm, going to, to, to work so there are a lot of traffic everywhere. You can maybe, not so, so, so far away, but you spend one, an hour in a, in a car.
Examiner: Ok, thank you. Do you expect to go there again?
Candidate: I hope so. I hope so. Now she will come to Spain and I, I hope to go again.
Examiner: Uh-huh. Ok, we’ve been talking about an interesting city you have visited and now I’d like to ask you one or two more general questions about this. Let’s consider first of all cities and the countryside. Erm, what are the main advantages of living in cities?
Candidate: Well, I think one of the better things living in a city is that you, everything is close at hand. Erm, you don’t have to take a car to go to cinema, to supermarket, to school, so you just … Everything is walking distance for me, no?
Examiner: And do you think some things are better in the countryside?
Candidate: Of course. One of the better things in the countryside, living in the countryside is the fact that you have more contact with the nature, when you have kids for example, I think living in the countryside is much better for them, riding bikes, playing with friends.
Examiner: So why do you think so many people choose to live in cities?
Candidate: Everything is easier. Everything is easier, close at hand and, and you have a lot of … for, I think for young people and older people you have theatre, cinemas, for young people, there’s er, nightclubs, discos and for, for kids or families you have shoppings or everything is, is better and easier. If you live in the countryside you have to take the car for everything.
Examiner: Mm-mm. Ok, so do you think cities are more suitable for young people to live in than older people?
Candidate: Without doubt. Yeah, yeah because (bueno) they, they prefer to, to be in contact with friends, if they study, go to university, er, to meet people in a club, or in bars. (bueno) For example Barcelona have a, has a lot of night, nightlife and it’s wonderful.
Examiner: And do you agree that transport is the biggest problem in cities?
Candidate: It’s one of the biggest problems, yeah. It’s one of the biggest problems because um, not for example in Barcelona or in Madrid, big cities from Spain, er, because everything is very er, controlled and the, the traffic it’s not a problem, but for example, in, in Buenas Aires in Argentina, where I am, where I am from, people drive like crazies, not, not as in Italy but drive like crazies and (bueno) it’s a big problem there … big problem.
Examiner: Ok, and in what ways do you think city life could be improved for everyone?
Candidate: Er, I think that one of the, one of the points that I think it’s very important in a city is the cleanliness. Um, I think for example Barcelona has, has to, has made a lot of things improving cleanliness. When you go to Barcelona you see a very clean city and that’s one of the things that love the, the tourists from, from Barcelona. Not for example in Buenos Aires where you can’t find that. T he water there is very dirty and for example here you find, you find beaches, very nice beaches, (bueno) the typical Mediterranean beaches and that is, I think that is one of the points that could be improved to attract tourists to the city.
Examiner: Ok. Thank you. That is the end of the speaking test.
Candidate: You’re welcome. Thank you.
