Social history of the East End of London: listening answers and explanations
A lecturer continues a series on the social history of London with the East End. She gives a quick history of the district from Roman times to the nineteenth century, then turns to housing conditions at the start of the twentieth century.
Questions 31-37 follow the timeline century by century, and the lecturer names each period before giving the detail, so the dates are your signposts. 'Now we'll turn to housing' marks the switch to questions 38-40, which all come from the short section on early twentieth-century homes.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the part yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
Q
Your answer
Answer
Questions 31-37 · Table completion (NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS)
How to attack this block: Listen for the century, then for the detail in that row. The table rewords the lecture, so think about what kind of word each gap needs: a verb after 'to', a material after 'made of', a noun after 'lack of'.
Question 31
Answer: feedWhen the lecturer describes London under the Romans
What was the area's farm produce used for in Roman times?
consisted of farmland with crops and livestock which helped to feed that population
Question says → You hear
Produce from the areafarmland with crops and livestock
the people of Londonthat population
Why: Crops and livestock are the produce, and 'that population' is London's 45,000 people. The gap follows 'to', so it needs a verb: feed.
The trap: Farmland is the noun near the answer, but 'used to farmland' makes no sense. Check the grammar of the gap.
Question 32
Answer: metal and leatherWhen the Angles, Saxons and Jutes settle in the East End
Also accepted: leather and metal / metal, leather / leather, metal / metal leather
What materials could people now make goods from?
The technology they introduced meant that metal and leather goods were produced there for the first time.
Question says → You hear
New technology allowed the productionThe technology they introduced … were produced there for the first time
Why: Both materials are needed: metal and leather. Three words is within the limit because 'and' links them, and either order is accepted.
The trap: Writing only one material loses the mark. Ships come in the next sentence, but they carry goods, they aren't a material.
Question 33
Answer: restrictionsAfter 1066, when London becomes rich and powerful
What did the East End have little of that helped businesses grow?
because there were fewer restrictions there than in the city itself, plenty of newcomers settled there from abroad
Question says → You hear
Lack offewer restrictions
Why: 'Fewer restrictions' becomes 'lack of restrictions'. Newcomers came because it was easier to work and trade there.
The trap: 'Fewer' changes to 'lack of', so don't write fewer. And keep the plural: restrictions.
Question 34
Answer: shipsAt 'In the sixteenth century'
What were the first dock facilities built for?
In the sixteenth century the first dock was dug where ships were constructed
Question says → You hear
Construction of facilities for the building ofthe first dock was dug where ships were constructed
Why: The facility is the dock, and what was built there was ships. 'Constructed' becomes 'building of'.
The trap: Dock is the facility itself, already described by 'facilities' in the table. The gap is what was built in it.
Question 35
Answer: EnglandIn the late sixteenth century, straight after the docks
Where did the agricultural workers come from?
when much of the rest of England was suffering economically, a lot of agricultural workers came to the East End to look for alternative work
Question says → You hear
from other parts ofthe rest of England
Why: 'The rest of England' becomes 'other parts of England'. They came from poorer areas to look for work in the East End.
The trap: The East End is where they went, not where they came from. Newcomers 'from abroad' belong to the eleventh-century row, not this one.
Question 36
Answer: builtAt 'In the seventeenth century', when housing was short
What could be done with the drained marshland?
There was a shortage of accommodation, so marshland was drained and built on to house the large numbers of people
Question says → You hear
Marshes were drainedmarshland was drained
Why: The gap sits in 'could be ... on', so it needs a past participle: built. 'Built on' matches the recording exactly.
The trap: House is the verb that follows, but 'could be house on' doesn't work. Build without the -ed loses the mark too.
Question 37
Answer: povertyWhen the port becomes the main employer
What kind of conditions did people live in during the nineteenth century?
the vast majority of people lived in extreme poverty, and suffered from appalling sanitary conditions
Question says → You hear
conditions of greatextreme poverty
very poor sanitationappalling sanitary conditions
Why: 'Extreme poverty' becomes 'conditions of great poverty'. The sanitation half of the sentence is already printed.
The trap: Sanitation is the other problem in the same sentence, but it's already in the table.
Multiple choice (choose THREE)
Questions 38-40
How to attack this block: The housing section is short and fast, and the three problems come in a different order from the options. Landlords, fires and damp are all mentioned, so check that each option is really described as a problem.
Question 38-40
Answer: C and E and F (in either order)After 'now we'll turn to housing'
Which three housing problems in the early twentieth century does the lecturer mention?
badly built, because there was no regulation … fires which heated perhaps … might well be occupied by … full families
Question says → You hear
poor standards of buildingbadly built, because there was no regulation
heating problemsfires which heated perhaps
overcrowdingmight well be occupied by … full families
Why: F: houses were crowded together and badly built, with no rules to stop it. C: homes were heated by coal fires that warmed perhaps only one room. E: one tiny house could hold two whole families, children and relatives included.
The trap: A is the strongest distractor: landlords are mentioned, but only to say they and tenants both cared about having housing at all. Nobody calls them unsympathetic. Fires come up, but for heating, not houses catching fire (G).
The lecturer says there were 'fewer restrictions' in the East End. The table turns that into 'lack of ...', so you need restrictions, the noun, and it must be plural.
The workers came from the rest of England, but the lecturer only says England in passing, while talking about the economy. Many people write the East End or London instead.
Fires are mentioned, but as the way homes were heated, not as houses burning down. Landlords are mentioned too, but nobody calls them unsympathetic.
Words from this recording worth keeping
livestock(Roman times)
farm animals
invasions(5th-10th centuries)
attacks by armies entering a country
prosperous(11th century)
rich and successful
merchants(11th century)
people who buy and sell goods as a business
suffering economically(16th century)
going through hard times with little money
shortage of accommodation(17th century)
not enough places to live
appalling(19th century)
very bad, shocking
regulation(20th-century housing)
official rules that control something
Sit this test on Langujet, then come back
The full Cambridge 6 Test 1 listening paper with the real audio: all four parts, played once, marked the moment you finish. Already done it? Take it again and listen for the traps this page showed you.
Cambridge IELTS 6, Test 1, Listening Part 4. The recording, transcript and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts of the transcript only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full material, or sit the test on Langujet.
