Q1.
I. You will listen to four people sharing their thoughts on why they enjoy witty characters in stories. As you listen, match statements 1–6 given below to the speakers (i)–(iv). There are two statements you do not need.
Statements:
1. Witty characters prove that cleverness is as powerful as strength.
2. Witty characters show us ways to make learning enjoyable.
3. Witty characters in a story keep the reader involved.
4. Witty characters teach me that tricky situations can be managed calmly.
5. Witty characters add excitement to a story by their extraordinary deeds.
6. Witty characters can deactivate tense situations with their cleverness.
Answer
| Speaker | Statement | The words in the transcript that prove it |
|---|---|---|
| (i) | 6 | “Even when things seem tense, they always have a clever response. Such characters never panic, think fast, and solve problems in the smartest way.” |
| (ii) | 1 | “It makes me feel like intelligence and humour are just as powerful as strength.” |
| (iii) | 4 | “It makes me laugh but also teaches me to stay calm in tricky situations.” |
| (iv) | 3 | “Their intelligence keeps the reader engaged.” |
Statements not needed: 2 and 5.
Why those two are the distractors:
- 5 — “add excitement … by their extraordinary deeds”. Speaker (ii) does say witty characters “make stories exciting”, but the reason he gives is the opposite of extraordinary deeds: “they turn ordinary moments into something memorable.” Half the statement matches and half contradicts, so it is out.
- 2 — “show us ways to make learning enjoyable”. This is the harder one, because Speaker (iv) does say “their humour makes learning fun”. But (iv) can be matched only once, and statement 3 repeats his words almost exactly — keeps the reader engaged / keep the reader involved. A near-paraphrase beats a loose overlap.
Tip for matching tasks with extra options: Do the easy, near-verbatim matches first and cross those speakers off. The distractors are usually the statements that are almost right — they take one true phrase from the recording and attach a wrong reason to it. Always check the reason, not just the claim.