The Later Life of Thor Heyerdahl Listening Practice Test with Answers
Are you facing issues with enhancing your IELTS listening skills and scoring well on the exam? If yes, here you will get the solution. In this, we will provide you a chance to practice with the later life of Thor Heyerdahl listening answers.
Moreover, we will provide you with essential strategies so that you can easily identify your weak areas and achieve your desired scores. This will help you understand the structure of the IELTS listening section, and you will know how you need to perform in a real exam environment. So, let’s first start exploring the answers.
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Transcript for The Later Life of Thor Heyerdahl
Man: Right, well, for our presentation, shall I start with the early life of Thor Heyerdahl?
Woman: Sure. Why don’t you begin with describing the type of boy he was, especially his passion for collecting things.
Man: That’s right, he had his own little museum. And I think it’s unusual for children to develop their own values and not join in their parents’ hobbies; I’m thinking of how Heyerdahl wouldn’t go hunting with his dad, for example.
Woman: Yeah, he preferred to learn about nature by listening to his mother read to him. And quite early on he knew he wanted to become an explorer when he grew up. That came from his camping trips he went on in Norway, I think...
Man: No, it was climbing that he spent his time on as a young man.
Woman: Oh, right... After university, he married a classmate and together, they decided to experience living on a small island, to find out how harsh weather conditions shaped people’s lifestyles.
Man: As part of their preparation before they left home, they learnt basic survival skills like building a shelter. I guess they needed that knowledge in order to live wild in a remote location with few inhabitants, cut off by the sea, which is what they were aiming to do.
Woman: An important part of your talk should be the radical theory Heyerdahl formed from examining the mysterious ancient carvings that he happened to find on the island. I think you should finish with that.
Woman: All right, Victor, so after your part I’ll talk about Thor Heyerdahl’s adult life, continuing from the theory he had about Polynesian migration. Up until that time, of course, academics had believed that humans first migrated to the islands in Polynesia from Asia, in the west.
Man: Yes, they thought that travel from the east was impossible, because of the huge, empty stretch of ocean that lies between the islands and the nearest inhabited land.
Woman: Yes, but Heyerdahl spent ages studying the cloud movements, ocean currents and wind patterns to find if it was actually possible. And another community lying to the east of Polynesia. But Heyerdahl knew they made lots of coastal voyages in locally built canoes.
Man: Yes, or sailing on rafts, as was shown by the long voyage that Heyerdahl did next. It was an incredibly risky journey to undertake - sometimes I wonder if he did that trip for private reasons, you know? To show others that he could have spectacular adventures. What do you think, Olivia?
Woman: Well, I think it was more a matter of simply trying out his idea, to see if migration from the east was possible.
Man: Yes, that's probably it. And the poor guy suffered a bit at that time because the war forced him to stop his work for some years ...
Woman: Yes. When he got started again and planned his epic voyage, do you think it was important to him that he achieve it before anyone else did?
Man: Urn, I haven’t read anywhere that that was his motivation. The most important factor seems to have been that he used only ancient techniques and local materials to build his raft.
Woman: Yes. I wonder how fast it went.
Man: Well, it took them 97 days from South America to the Pacific Islands.
Woman: Mm. And after that, Heyerdahl went to Easter Island, didn't he? We should mention the purpose of that trip. I think he sailed there in a boat made out of reeds.
Man: No, that was later on in Egypt, Olivia.
Woman: Oh, yes, that’s right.
Man: But what he wanted to do was talk to the local people about their old stone carvings and then make one himself to learn more about the process.
Woman: I see. Well, what a great life. Even though many of his theories have been disproven, he certainly left a lasting impression on many disciplines, didn’t he? To my mind, he was the first person to establish what modern academics call practical archaeology. I mean, that they try to recreate something from the past today, like he did with his raft trip. It’s unfortunate that his ideas about where Polynesians originated from have been completely discredited.
Man: Yes. Right, well, I'll prepare a PowerPoint slide at the end that acknowledges our sources. I mainly used The Life and Work of Thor Heyerdahl by William Oliver. I thought the research methods he used were very sound, although I must say I found the overall tone somewhat old-fashioned. I think they need to do a new, revised edition.
Woman: Yeah, I agree. What about the subject matter - I found it really challenging!
Man: Well, it's a complex issue ...
Woman: I thought the book had lots of good points. What did you think of...
Questions for the Later Life of Thor Heyerdahl
Questions 1-2
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO hobbies was Thor Heyerdahl very interested in as a youth?
A. Camping
B. Climbing
C. Collecting
D. Running
E. Reading
Questions 3-4
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which do the speakers say are the TWO reasons why Heyerdahl went to live on an island?
A. to examine ancient carvings
B. to experience an isolated place
C. to formulate a new theory
D. to learn survival skills
E. to study the impact of an extreme environment
Questions 5-10
Choose the correct letter A, B or C.
The later life of Thor Heyerdahl
5. According to Victor and Olivia, academics thought that Polynesian migration from the east was impossible due to
A. the fact that Eastern countries were far away.
B. the lack of materials for boat building.
C. the direction of the winds and currents.
6. Which do the speakers agree was the main reason for Heyerdahl’s raft journey?
A. to overcome a research setback
B. to demonstrate a personal quality
C. to test a new theory
7. What was most important to Heyerdahl about his raft journey?
A. the fact that he was the first person to do it
B. the speed of crossing the Pacific
C. the use of authentic construction methods
8. Why did Heyerdahl go to Easter Island?
A. to build a stone statue
B. to sail a reed boat
C. to learn the local language
9. In Olivia’s opinion, Heyerdahl’s greatest influence was on
A. theories about Polynesian origins.
B. the development of archaeological methodology.
C. establishing archaeology as an academic subject.
10. Which criticism do the speakers make of William Oliver’s textbook?
A. Its style is out of date.
B. Its content is over-simplified.
C. Its methodology is flawed.
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Answers for the Later Life of Thor Heyerdahl Listening Test
In this section, we have provided you the answers of The later life of Thor Heyerdahl listening test. You can practice the sample test on your own and match the following solutions to identify the correct ones.
Question 1
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With the above information, we have explored the later life of Thor Heyerdahl listening answers. In this, you will hear about Thor Heyerdahl's early life. You will hear the recording of two people, a man and a woman. They talk about that in early life, how Thor Heyerdahl was and his passion for collecting things. The man tells her that Thor has his own little museum, which is unusual for children to develop their own values and join in their parents’ hobbies. He was likely a man who was interested in nature by his mom.
In the above paragraph, you have got an idea about the recording and know what the person talks about. If you found the above sample helpful, you can practice with an IELTS listening mock test for more improvement.
Key Highlights of the IELTS Listening Section
- Firstly, the IELTS listening test consists of four different audio recordings with a distinct title and speaker type, from casual to academic lectures.
- In the test, you may find different types of questions, which can include multiple choice, matching, table completion, short answer, label a diagram, and chart completion.
- While attempting the test, aspirants need to listen to the recording carefully to extract exact details of the questions like names, dates, locations, and times.
- The audio features a range of native English accents, and speakers can be British, Australian, American, and New Zealand. Test your skills to understand the intent.
- During the test, time management is crucial because you are going to listen to the audio once and then quickly answer the questions as per the allotted time.
Task Type in the Later Life of Thor Heyerdahl Listening Answers
The later life of Thor Heyerdahl IELTS listening answers cover two types of questions. Let’s move further and know the structure of both question types.
Multiple Choice Questions with Multiple Answers (1-4)
Observe questions 1-2 and 3-4 in the test. These are multiple-choice questions with multiple answers based. In this, you have given questions along with five options. Now, for tasks 1 and 2, you have to choose two answers from the list A to E. Same as for tasks 3 and 4, you will need to pick two correct answers from the list A to E.
Multiple Choice Questions (5-10)
In the given test, you have 5-10 questions based on multiple choice. In this, each task consists of three lists of choices A, B, and C. Now, you have to choose the correct answer which is right according to you and write it in your answer sheet. For example, in the 7th question, the accurate response is C.
IELTS Listening Common Mistakes
- Not following the guidelines and instructions carefully in the IELTS listening test is one of the common mistakes of students that many students make. You must avoid this.
- You already know that in the test, you will listen to the recording once only, so you should not miss a single word from the conversation because it could be your answer.
- Predicting the correct answer is good, but in the IELTS listening, you do have to rely on the speaker’s voice and should not assume the response.
IELTS Band Calculation for Listening Section
The score ranges in the IELTS listening section from 0-9 bands, which can be given on each correct answer. To understand the score chart, you must take a look at the table.
| Band Score | Score / 40 |
|---|---|
| 9 | 39-40 |
| 8.5 | 37-38 |
| 8 | 35-36 |
| 7.5 | 33-34 |
| 7 | 30-32 |
| 6.5 | 27-29 |
| 6 | 23-26 |
| 5.5 | 19-22 |
| 5 | 15-18 |
| 4.5 | 13-14 |
| 4 | 10-12 |
| 3.5 | 8-9 |
| 3 | 6-7 |
| 2.5 | 4-5 |
Conclusion
To wrap up, we have discussed many things in this write-up about the listening section. Along with this, you have identified the later life of Thor Heyerdahl listening answers with audio. Hopefully, this was helpful for you to know how you need to attempt the listening test. Moreover, if you want to test your skills, you must try the IELTS self-help kit and know your strengths and weaknesses. In case you require practice with tutors, you must join offline or online IELTS coaching to master all the areas of English.
