Hi, I found the task in the Internet, I think you might have hurt it before. The link is
onlinenglish.net/iBT/OnlinEn … ng_1b.html
Both the reading and listening passage analyze the possible explanations why the Mary Celeste ship was found abandoned without few barrels of alcohol that the ship was carrying. The reading passage provides few explanations that are crime related and the listening passage tries to explain the mystery by suggesting that there was an accident.
The captain of the Mary Celeste could have been killed with his family by the crew, as the reading passage suggests. After the killing crew would have escaped in a one of the lifeboats with alcohol. Another explanation suggested by the reading passage was, that the crew which had found the boat was the one that attacked the ship and took the missing amount of alcohol and the reward for finding the ship afterwords.
The lecturer provides another perspective of the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He doubt that the ship could have been attacked, since the captain of the ship was very respected and experienced, also he was friend with the captain that found the ship. What is more, there was no evidence that crew that found the ship had taken anything. The lecturer explains the mystery by suggesting that the crew of the missing ship did not have experience in carrying alcohol. After alcohol started to lick, the crew ran away in fright, escaped with the lifeboat and drown or starved afterwords.
thank you!
TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between two university students (1)