A Conversation Between a Tutor and Two Students Discussing the Crop Rice - IELTS Listening Sample Answer

The IELTS Listening section comprises two conversations and two monologues. Candidates need to answer 40 IELTS listening questions. This topic - A tutor and two students discussing the crop rice is IELTS Listening section Three.

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Candidates need to answer the following question types:

• Choose the correct answer
• Identifying information

Audio Transcript

You will hear a tutor and two students discussing the crop rice.

Tutor Good morning, everyone. So ... following on from our tutorial on European agriculture last week, Daisy and Erik are going to talk about the most commonly grown crop in Asia, which is, of course, rice. Erik, can you tell us what you’ve been working on?

Erik Yes, sure ... We’ve been looking at the role of rice in a number of countries, how it’s grown, ways of increasing production. As I’m sure you know, rice is the staple diet throughout Asia and, in fact, 90 per cent of the world’s rice is grown and eaten there. Daisy’s got some background on that.

Daisy Um ... well, rice was originally a wild plant which started out in the tropical regions of Asia, but there are literally hundreds of varieties today and each with different qualities. For instance, one will survive floods, while another will grow in relatively dry conditions. A third has a really lovely smell. But wherever it grows, rice needs a lot of water.

Tutor What do you mean by‘a lot’?

Erik Well, it takes about 5,000 litres to get a kilogram of rice. This can be supplied either naturally or by irrigation. And as most rice­growing countries suffer from unpredictable weather, including drought - water management really is the key.

Daisy Research has become so important now that each rice-growing country in Asia has its own research institute, whether we’re talking about Japan, China or Bangladesh ... and they’re all co-ordinated by a group in the Philippines called the International Rice Research Institute.

Tutor Interesting.

Daisy Bangladesh, for instance, has been successfully using different rice varieties and fertilizers for 30 years. But because it’s such a flat, delta country, it’s very difficult for the water to drain away after the monsoon season, so they need to find special rice crops that can survive the floods. And with global warming, the situation is more urgent than ever.

Erik Now I’d like to move on to our comparative study. As you can imagine, China is the world’s biggest rice producing country. Collectively the Chinese people probably eat more than three billion bowls of rice every day!

Tutor Quite a statistic!

Erik And of course, rice plays an important cultural role too.

Daisy We then compared China to Thailand. You know, even though Thailand only has about 64 million people, it is the world’s number one exporter of rice. Not China as you might imagine.

Tutor Is that so?

Erik Yes. They send their rice everywhere ... in particular to Europe, as well as Africa and the Middle East. Apparently the fact that ‘jasmine rice’ is growing in popularity is one reason why Thailand’s rice export industry is doing so well. People want something a bit different.

Daisy And, of course, Thailand is well suited to rice growing-good climatic conditions, and lots of fresh water.

Erik Going back to China for a minute, we should mention that at the rice research institute in Hangzhou they are working on ways of improving rice yields, using less water.

Tutor By yields you mean ... the amount they can grow?

Erik Yes. They’re trying to find ways to get more rice from less land, improve the taste, but also have other things in it besides carbohydrates so that it’s healthier - better for you.

Tutor Good idea, considering it’s the staple food.

Erik And then you’ve got Japan, which is totally self-sufficient when it comes to rice. This is basically because they have a high tariff on imported rice, so everyone buys the home­grown product. And they don’t export much.

Daisy Yes, but you know, even though rice is a kind of sacred crop there, consumption is only half what it was in the 1960s. This trend isn’t evident in Thailand or China.

Tutor Interesting that you mentioned how rice is almost sacred in Japan. Because I believe in Thailand it also plays an important cultural role.

Daisy Absolutely! They have the ‘royal ploughing ceremony’ every year, which the King always attends and he actually scatters a new stock of seed to the farmers, who pour into Bangkok for the event.

Tutor What about the global interest in organic farming? Is there such a thing as organically grown rice?

Erik Yes - indeed. And the Japanese are getting quite a taste for it. apparently. There’s an experimental farm near the city of Akita in the Japanese rice belt - famous for its Sake, by the way - which has pioneered organic rice production, and now it’s sold all across the country. It’s a bit like the recent popularity of jasmine rice in Thailand, but that’s for the export market, of course.

Tutor Interesting how attitudes change, isn’t it?

Questions 21-24.

Choose the correct letter, A, B, or C, and write answers next to 21-24 on your answer sheet.

21. What background information does Daisy give about rice?

1. Wild rice is grown throughout Asia.
2. Some types of rice need less water than others.
3. All rice varieties have a lovely aroma.

Answer: B

Explanation: It is mentioned in the conversation that ‘one will survive floods, while another will grow in relatively dry conditions’. Option B has the same meaning as this statement thus the answer is option B.

Also, check:

22. Erik says that a priority for rice farmers is to be able to

1. grow rice without fertilizers.
2. predict weather patterns.
3. manage water resources.

Answer: C

Explanation: Erik stated that ‘water management really is the key’. According to this the answer must be option C.

23. Where is the International Rice Research Institute?

1. The Philippines
2. China
3. Japan

Answer: A

Explanation: Daisy mentioned that ‘ they’re all co-ordinated by a group in the Philippines called the International Rice Research Institute’. Therefore the answer is A.

24. Scientists in Bangladesh want to find a

1. more effective type of fertilizer.
2. strain of rice resistant to flooding.
3. way to reduce the effects of global warming.

Answer: B

Explanation: Daisy talks about the conditions in Bangladesh. She said that ‘ they need to find special rice crops that can survive the floods’. Hence the answer is B.

Questions 25-30.

Choose the correct letter, A, B, or C, and write answers next to 25-30 on your answer sheet.

Which country do the following statements apply to?

1. Japan
2. China
3. Thailand

25. They grow the most rice in the world.
26. They export the most rice in the world.
27. They aim to increase the nutritional value of rice.
28. Less rice is eaten than in the past.
29. An annual rice festival takes place.
30. A new type of rice is now popular locally.

Question 25.

Answer: B

Explanation: Erik states that ‘China is the world’s biggest rice-producing country’. Thus the answer must be B.

Question 26.

Answer: C

Explanation: Daisy said that ‘even though Thailand only has about 64 million people, it is the world’s number one exporter of rice’. Therefore the answer must be C.

Question 27.

Answer: B

Explanation: Erik states that the institute in Hangzhou is trying to make rice healthier - better for you. Therefore, the answer must be B.

Question 28.

Answer: A

Explanation: As said by Daisy that ‘Japan’s consumption is only half what it was in the 1960s’. Therefore the answer is A.

Question 29.

Answer: C

Explanation: Daisy describes that Thailand has the ‘royal ploughing ceremony’ every year’ accordingly the answer will be C.

Question 30.

Answer: A

Explanation: Erik talks about an experimental farm near the city of Akita in the Japanese rice belt that ‘has pioneered organic rice production, and now it’s sold all across the country’. Therefore the answer must be A.