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Listening Test 6
 
SECTION 1 
You will hear two flatmates, Tom and Richard, talking about their new flatmate, who has 
just moved in the week before. 
Tom: Hi, Richard. I’m glad I caught you here. Can I just talk to you about something? 
Our new flatmate—Anders — is not quite what I had hoped. I was wondering if you 
shared my concerns about some of his behaviour. 
Richard: Ah, yes, Tom, I know what you mean, but we can’t be entirely negative. He has 
good points. I mean, at least he’s quiet. He doesn’t play loud music all night, or bother 
others, or turn his TV up, disturbing everyone. 
Tom: Sure, he’s quiet, but remember our last flatmate? He’d say ‘hi’ to you, and smile, 
and treat everyone politely. In comparison, this new guy is very impolite. He just grunts 
in reply, and sometimes ignores me altogether. 
Richard: I guess that’s just his way—y’know, just his character. I don’t think he realises 
he’s being impolite, and it shouldn’t matter to us too much. We can just ignore him, too, 
and quietly live our own lives. 
Tom: But his friends are hard to ignore, when they visit. 
Richard: I know what you mean, but how often does that happen? I rarely see them — 
maybe once or twice a month. If they came moreoften, it might be a problem, but as it 
is, such rare visits don’t matter so much. Wouldn’t you say so? 
Tom: Well, I’m not sure, since it’s very obvious when they’re here because of all 
the cigarette smoke in the house. It stinks up the place, and you know 
we don’t allow smoking on the premises. 

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Richard: Well, I’ve never seen them doing this. Maybe they do it outside. Perhaps we can 
talk to Anders about it. Always remember, though, in one respect, he’s a good tenant. 
And it’s the most important aspect. The previous flatmate would always pay the rent late. 
Tom: I know what you’re going to say. This guy pays promptly. But there’s more to 
being a good tenant than prompt payment. I mean, you need to turn off the TV, clean up 
your dishes, dress respectably, be polite, and so on. I guess what I’m saying is that, 
basically, you need to co-operate with the others, and this new guy fails significantly in 
this respect. 
Richard: Okay, I suppose you have a point there. 
Richard: I tell you what, Tom, why don’t we talk to our new flatmate, Anders, about 
these issues? If we throw him out, we’ll have to go to all the trouble of finding another 
flatmate, who might not necessarily be much better. So, let’s give the current guy a 
chance. Here. I’ve got a piece of paper, so let’s make a short list of issues to discuss with 
him. Get it out into the open. 
Tom: Sure. We’ll give him one more chance. So, write, ‘Communication’, and let’s tell 
him to ... 
Richard: Well, we can’t change a person’s personality overnight, so why don’t we have a 
weekly tenants’ meeting, and we can just ask him to attend? That way we can get to 
know him better. I’ll write ‘attend meeting’, and we can take it from there. 
Tom: Okay, but we have to tell him about his friends. They can’t just do whatever they 
want. Write a heading ‘friends’ and then write ‘don’t smoke, anywhere, inside or 
outside’. 
Richard: Well, instead of being so direct, and possibly causing offense, I’ll just write, 
‘follow rules’, and verbally mention the rules: TV off by 10 pm, no loud music, or bad 
behaviour, including smoking. 

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