Updated 2026-08-28hard

Duolingo English Test Interactive Listening Practice #13 — Hard Level

Free DET (Duolingo English Test) Interactive Listening practice #13 — Hard level. Just DET Listening questions, no grading — solve it yourself and check the answer or model response.

How to practice: This set collects only the Interactive Listening question type from the real DET (Duolingo English Test) — DET Listening questions. No grading, no timer — solve it yourself, then tap each question to reveal the answer or model response.
Conversation 1

Two senior diplomats — one representing a Western nation, the other a developing country — are meeting informally on the sidelines of a UN conference to discuss a resolution on disputed territorial waters.

AI appreciate your candor in our earlier session. The draft resolution as it stands places obligations on coastal states that many of our partners in the Global South simply cannot meet within the proposed timeframe.
BI understand your concern, but from our perspective, the timeline is not merely a logistical matter — it reflects the urgency of the underlying environmental situation. Flexibility on that point sends the wrong signal to parties who may not be acting in good faith.
AWe are not suggesting indefinite delay. We are asking for a differentiated obligations framework that acknowledges the structural inequalities in technical and financial capacity among signatory states. Surely that is a reasonable ask?
BDifferentiated obligations have a way of becoming permanent exceptions. We have seen that pattern before. What specific mechanism are you proposing to ensure that flexibility does not become a loophole?
AA phased compliance schedule with binding review benchmarks at three-year intervals, supported by a dedicated capacity-building fund with contributions from developed nations. That is the compromise we are prepared to table.
Q1 · Interactive Listening
What does B say next?
  1. A. That sounds acceptable. We will support the resolution without any further amendments.
  2. B. That proposal has merit, though we would need assurances that the capacity-building fund is adequately capitalized before we could endorse the phased timeline.
  3. C. We cannot accept any modifications to the draft resolution at this stage of the negotiations.
  4. D. The three-year review cycle is too frequent and would place an undue administrative burden on participating states.
Show Answer
Correct: That proposal has merit, though we would need assurances that the capacity-building fund is adequately capitalized before we could endorse the phased timeline.
Conversation 2

Two political scientists are being interviewed on a panel discussion program. The moderator has asked whether populism represents a genuine threat to liberal democracy or a necessary corrective to elite-driven governance.

AI think we need to be careful not to conflate the symptom with the disease. Populism is a response to very real failures of democratic representation. When large portions of the electorate feel that mainstream parties no longer speak to their material interests, some form of populist mobilization is almost predictable.
BThat framing is too charitable. What populism actually does is substitute a simplistic narrative of 'the people versus the elite' for the genuinely difficult work of policy deliberation. The danger is not populism's diagnosis of democratic failure — that diagnosis is often accurate — but its prescribed remedy.
ABut surely the remedy you are describing is not intrinsic to populism as such. Scandinavian social democratic movements in the early twentieth century shared many structural features with what we now call populism, and they ultimately strengthened rather than eroded democratic institutions.
BThe historical analogy is instructive but imprecise. Those movements operated within institutional environments with robust norms of procedural constraint. Contemporary right-wing populism in particular has shown a marked propensity to attack the very institutional guardrails — independent courts, free press, electoral commissions — that make democratic alternation possible.
AAgreed on the institutional dimension. So the question becomes: can we address the underlying representational failures without inadvertently legitimizing the anti-institutional dimensions of the populist challenge?
Q2 · Interactive Listening
What does B say next?
  1. A. That is precisely the right question, and I believe the answer lies in deepening, rather than merely defending, existing democratic procedures — expanding participatory mechanisms while simultaneously reinforcing constitutional constraints.
  2. B. I think we should focus entirely on winning elections rather than worrying about the populist challenge to institutions.
  3. C. The historical record suggests that populism always eventually collapses under the weight of its own internal contradictions.
  4. D. We need to accept that liberal democracy may simply be incompatible with the demands of modern mass politics.
Show Answer
Correct: That is precisely the right question, and I believe the answer lies in deepening, rather than merely defending, existing democratic procedures — expanding participatory mechanisms while simultaneously reinforcing constitutional constraints.
Conversation 3

Representatives of two NGOs — one focused on humanitarian aid logistics, the other on conflict mediation — are coordinating their response to a rapidly deteriorating situation in a region experiencing both civil conflict and a public health emergency.

AWe have been granted a 72-hour access window by the relevant authorities, but our supply convoys cannot reach the northern sector without passage through territory currently controlled by a non-state actor whose cooperation we have not secured.
BOur mediation team has an existing communication channel with that group. We may be able to facilitate a temporary humanitarian ceasefire, but we need your operational timeline and a detailed manifest of what the convoys will carry — any ambiguity on our end undermines the credibility of our assurances to their command.
AWe can have those documents to you within four hours. The complicating factor is that the public health emergency has created additional needs that were not anticipated in our original planning — specifically, cold-chain medical supplies that require generator-powered refrigeration during transit.
BThat detail is going to matter significantly to the group's leadership. Their stated concerns have included the use of humanitarian corridors for purposes other than civilian relief. We will need to present an independent monitoring mechanism to give them confidence that no non-humanitarian materials are in transit.
AWe can propose a joint verification protocol with the participation of a neutral observer from an internationally recognized body. Would that be sufficient for your purposes in the mediation?
Q3 · Interactive Listening
What does B say next?
  1. A. A neutral observer from a recognized body would substantially strengthen our position in the negotiation. I will present that proposal at the earliest opportunity, but I cannot guarantee a response within your 72-hour window.
  2. B. We will simply tell them the convoys are safe and hope they accept our word for it.
  3. C. The monitoring mechanism is unnecessary — humanitarian organizations are universally trusted by all parties.
  4. D. Given the complexity of the situation, I recommend we abandon the northern sector operation and redirect resources elsewhere.
Show Answer
Correct: A neutral observer from a recognized body would substantially strengthen our position in the negotiation. I will present that proposal at the earliest opportunity, but I cannot guarantee a response within your 72-hour window.

More “Interactive Listening” sets at other levels · Browse the full DET question bank