IELTS SOMEONE OR SOMETHING THAT MADE A LOT OF NOISE
IELTS Someone or Something That Made A Lot Of Noise: Below are the sample answers for both Part 2 & 3 talking about noise or noise pollution. Study how the story is composed talking about a thing that caused so much noise that affected the speaker. Also, understand how each question is answered in Part 3 and learn how to organize and discuss your answers very clearly.
SOMEONE OR SOMETHING
THAT MADE A LOT OF NOISE
Describe someone or something that made a lot of noise
You should say:
Who or what made the noise
What the noise was like
What you did when you heard the noise
And explain how you felt about it
A N S W E R
I once lived in a studio-type apartment that’s incredibly cheap back when I was still working in the city during my first few months of employment as a nurse. That apartment building has four units and I occupied one of the two units on the first floor. Because it was just a tiny apartment, every now and then, I could hear my next-door neighbor’s footsteps, voices, telephone calls, and music. However, those were bearable since they weren’t loud – they’re just low-frequency noises and I got used to hearing them.
Studio-type apartment [noun] – self-contained apartment in which all rooms are combined into a single room
Bearable [adj.] – tolerable
Low frequency [noun] – not loud; frequency below 150Hz
i.) The speaker developed his introduction by talking about his residence and at the same time his job. This kind of introduction immediately gave the examiner some ideas on what his monologue would be. Also, he added some topic vocabulary about noise that made his introduction more descriptive.
Anyway, when one of the units was vacated on the second floor, the landlord decided to renovate it. I was actually informed in advance about their one-day renovation and I just didn’t say any comment about it since it’s the least of my worries. Little did I know that it would ruin my day. So during the first day of their construction work, I was surprisingly awakened of the noise upstairs. I could hear clanking and welding noise from my unit. I was really irritated because the day before the renovation, I had a swing shift (that’s 2PM – 10PM) so I came back to my apartment around midnight and hit the hay at around 2 AM.
Vacate [verb] – leave a place
Landlord [noun] – a man who rents out a building
Renovate [verb] – restore
The least of someone’s worries [idiom] – a problem that is a less of a concern than another one
Little does someone know [phrase] – used to say that someone does not know that something is true
Clanking [noun] – loud and sharp noise as of pieces of metal
Swing shift [noun] – afternoon shift
Hit the hay [phrase] – go to bed
i.) In this part, the speaker started talking about the main content of his story about something that made a lot of noise. He provided specific details that would best describe the situation and would help the examiner understand things clearly. Also, he used some very good topic vocabulary words and collocations.
You could imagine how mad I was when my sleep was interrupted. Actually, I usually woke up at ten in the morning when I was on a second shift but because of that, I got up two hours earlier than usual, as a result, I felt light-headed and grumpy. What’s worse was, at work, I was reprimanded by our head nurse because I couldn’t focus on my work for the entire shift on that day since I was terribly sleepy. Had I known that the noise would cause so much trouble to me, I could have slept in my friend’s house for a night. But anyway, it did happen so I’d just put it down to experience.
Light-headed [adj.] – dizzy; giddy
Grumpy [adj.] – bad-tempered and irritable
Reprimand [verb as used in the answer] – to tell someone officially that they’ve done something wrong
Put it down to experience [idiom] – to give a decision that instead of being upset about something bad that has happened or that you have done, you’ll just learn from it
i.) Here the speaker added his reaction to what exactly happened and to extend his story a bit longer, he simply talked about the impact of that incident to his work and how it ruined his day completely. Then he finally ended his answer by using a very good expression that best expressed acceptance. That surely helped him get a good mark in the Lexical Resource and Coherence.
In what places people can hear lots of noises?
Well, there are innumerable places where we can hear and get distracted by a lot of noise but the most common places are the wet market, busy city streets, bus or train stations, and construction sites. These places, except for construction sites, are undeniably rowdy because most of the time they are crowded. People are rushing, talking loudly, and the like. As for construction sites, the kind of noise we all hear gives us discomfort since heavy construction equipment produces clanking noise and sometimes they are deafening. So these are the places where people get disturbed by the different types of noise.
Innumerable [adj.] – to many to be counted
Distracted [adj.] – unable to concentrate
And the like [phrase] – and similar things
i.) The speaker admitted that there were many places that were noisy that people could encounter and enumerated some more common places. He described the situation of those places – how noisy those places were. By giving specific descriptive words, he’s able to provide an answer that’s easy to understand.
Do you think there’s so much noise pollution in cities these days?
Yes generally, especially if we talk about major cities. Those places are typically noisy because they are populous, there are numerous cars, factories, different facilities like shopping malls, bars, restaurants, and many more. Those are the contributors of noise pollution, however, there are some cities that are less noisy like those minor cities and that is obviously because of their size. Small cities are less populated and less industrialized which simply means noise pollution is minimal. In other words, not all cities have a serious problem of noise pollution.
Populous [adj.] – densely populated
Minimal [adj.] – minimum
i.) The speaker provided a direct positive answer and started talking about a major city and described what made that city noisy. Then he transitioned to talking about minor cities as an exemption of not being noisy and simply described the condition of those types of cities.
What can be done to reduce traffic noise?
I believe different countries have different ways on how to minimize traffic noise. I have been to several countries both developed and developing and the traffic noise in those developing countries that I visited is worse than those developed countries. In those developing countries, honking car horns every now and then even if there’s no danger, is perfectly fine, it seems like it’s part of their culture. So because it is like their culture, I believe that is way harder to change. Honestly, I really don’t know how their government can improve the situation.
On the other hand, in some developed nations, I learned that they have regulations on noisy motor vehicle exhaust, so I guess they can impose much heftier fines to those who disobey the law. Well, anyway, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to address the problem of traffic noise.
Honk [verb] – to make a short yet loud sound
Impose [verb] – force something on someone
Hefty [adj.] – large in amount
One-size-fits-all [adj.] – to be suitable in all circumstances
i.) The speaker didn’t immediately give his main answer to the question, as there’s no single answer that would best answer that question. Instead, he talked about developing and developed countries separately and explained the cause of traffic noise and how it could be reduced. That kind of way of answering the question is logical and realistic.
Do you think the world will be noisier in the future?
That’s highly likely since the world is getting overpopulated and more industrialized. When there is a huge population, man-made noise will be more produced such as household noise, noise from bars or amusement parks, vehicular noise, among others. In addition, since the world progresses to something more advanced, many factories will be built which are capable of producing a large amount of noise like grinding mills, compressors, generators, exhaust fans and many more. These kinds of noises are a part of the advancement of the world and it will not be a big surprise for people when the future becomes much noisier than now.
Progress [verb as used in the answer] – to move forward; to advance
Grinding mill [noun] – a machine for crushing solid materials into tiny pieces
Compressor [noun] – a machine that squeezes gas or air and makes it take up less space
Generator [noun] – a machine for converting mechanical energy to electricity
Exhaust fan [noun] – a fan that moves air out from an enclosure
i.) The speaker gave a positive answer and talked about two main reasons why he thought the world would be noisier – population and industrialization. To elaborate his answer a bit more, he talked about the different types of noise that people would experience in the future and after that, he just ended the answer by stating that it would not be a big surprise as it’s just normal.