雅思口语第二阶段问题与答案.doc

Stage Two
People Cards
[1]
Describe your best friend.
You should say:
Where and when you met him/her
What you do together
Something about his/her appearance and personality
And explain why you think you are such good friends.

[1]
I met my best friend while I was at university He was in the same class. At first, he scolded me for leaning back on the chair, but, after a while, we began to become good friends. I used to meet him regularly at an Internet cafe. He went there regularly. We would spend hours there together. He would always lend a hand to me because I didn't know much about computers at that time.
He's a humble guy, never shows off his knowledge, even though he can. He's sincere and doesn't mind mildly scolding you or even himself in all the same sentence. He is usually very sociable, but sometimes he can also be a bit shy. He is good at soccer and volleyball and used to be on the school team. He's quite muscular and his hair is frizzy. He has very droopy eyes, like a puppy, and a very wide mouth.
I think the main reason we are such good friends is because we have a lot in common and we both have the same kind of humour. We also always support each other whenever we need help. I think we are such good friends because we don't feel we ever have to pretend around each other, and we are really helpful to one another. I will miss this guy a lot if I go overseas, but since he is always at the Internet cafe, I can email him, and he's probably right there to receive it!

[2].
Describe a teacher that had a powerful effect on you. You should say:
What subject the teacher taught you
When you had his/her class
Describe the teacher's appearance and personality
And explain what effect the teacher had on you.

[2]
First let me tell you about my teacher Zhang Fei, who still works at the Oalian Middle School number 23. She taught me English in school. I had her class about 6 years ago, and she taught me for a full year.
First let me tell you how she looks. She looks very normal except that she's very beautiful inside. She's tall and thin, but the thing you can notice about her is her wonderful, dark eyes with very bushy eyebrows under her spectacles. I can still picture her. You know she did not seem friendly at first, because she is very stem when she speaks, and she will not tolerate nonsense, but she is very kind in her own special way. She is also very demanding and clear when she speaks, and her concern is not so much with your grades but your effort.
The effect she had on me was very powerful. Essentially she taught me that you could be very disciplined and stem and hard working but still be very kind. Before, I thought all teachers who were strict were just mean. After her, I learned that hard work is about not compromising on quality.

[3]
Describe yourself.
You should say:
What you currently do
What you like and don't like doing
What your good points (strengths) and bad points (weaknesses) are
And explain what's the best way to become your friend.

Well, to start with, I think I will tell you what I do. I am a lawyer here in Shanghai and I've been working as an attorney for about 3 years. My work is interesting, but it involves very complicated issues and often there are various strategies that are necessary for success.
I enjoy meeting people and forming new relationships with people. I enjoy hearing people's stories and I like trying my best to help them. I also enjoy getting out with my friends and enjoying the entertainment places. I am a big fan of jazz and there are a few places that I go to enjoy it. I can also play the saxophone, and even play in a band at a bar from time to time, but I don't have time to do it regularly.
What I don't like doing? Hmm..1et me think, well I suppose I just don't like having to go through a lot of very tedious details at work, and, quite frankly, I don't like clients who lie to me about their situation. There are some things about the job which I don't like, and I'm not proud about everything that I do, but overall I really like it.
I think my good points are that I'm quite good at communicating. I mean, you have to be as a lawyer. I do know a lot about the law, especially commercial law, which is my specialty. I have a good memory for legal issues and law, and I can use them quite well to argue a point. My bad points are that I am the worst person for remembering directions. I get loot everywhere when I'm travelling. If you ask my wife she'll tell you that there's nobody as bad as me for getting lost in places.
As for how you can be my friend, I think the key thing is that you just need to have a good sense of humour and you just need to be honest in your actions. Actually, I am quite willing to be anyone's friend, but I hate people who make a big show of it. I don't need any special favours or gifts to be my friends. If people just act like themselves...well, that's good enough for me.
[4]
Describe a friend or relative who is very different from you. You should say:
Where the friend lives
How you met him/her
How he is different from you
And explain how you can still be good friends even though you are so different.

Right, well... I had a tough time thinking about who was most unlike me, but I guess it would have to be my cousin, Zhou Jiao Ping. Jiao Ping is a person who's so clever when it comes to business that I have chosen him, because when it comes to business I always seem to make the wrong decisions. Jiao Ping is a real estate agent who puts almost every extra RMB into investments like property and stocks. He never seems to lose money.
His job alone pays him a reasonable income, but he makes a lot on all the private investments he makes, and perhaps you could call him a millionaire. I, on the other hand, don't dare to invest my money because I'm too afraid of losing it, and I prefer spending my money on things to make me and others feel good.
Jiao Ping is a driven man and I like his energy and persistence. He's not a boastful guy, in fact he's quite modest, but he's a complete workaholic and even if you sit him down for over a minute he will think of things he could be doing. He's a thin fellow, has no time for food it seems, and he has this permanent smile on his face. He has quite a sharp wit, and never seems to be serious when you talk with him, but in fact he's always thinking of this and that.
Jiao Ping is very generous and lends money to so many people, without even expecting them to pay it back. But he spends hardly a penny on himself. He has no wife, and although he has about four homes, he lives in a very small place. You might say he is a miser, but actually he just doesn't care that much for luxuries since he doesn't get any pleasure from them.
He's different from me in many ways. First, I enjoy spending money to make myself happy. I also have to have a balance of work and pleasure. I don't mind working hard during my work, but I can't stand always thinking about work, and I need some time to just relax. I also don't feel so guilty about wasting a bit of time every now and then.

Describe a friend, relative or other person who has a good sense of humour.
You should say:
How you know this person
What this person's job or major is
The kinds of things he/she says that are funny
And explain how this person affects you (i.e. what impact this person has on you)
[5]

Ok, I've been asked to describe a person with a good sense of humour, and the person I've chosen is my classmate Zhang Hui. Zhang. Hui is a boy from Henan. He comes from Kaifeng. He majors in Economics and well, I guess you can say that Economics is not the most interesting subject, especially when the teachers start drawing graphics on the blackboard. Zhang Hui just seems to know how to make a joke out of it all. He has this funny face, which just adds to his humour.
I'll give you an example of how sharp his wit is. The instructor was talking about the relationship of supply and demand, and was looking for examples. So Zhang Hui stuck up his hand and said his mother is an example. He said the more money he spends on university, the better grades she demands. After he said that, everyone laughed so hard the professor had to wait for five minutes before he could continue.
I guess the way this person affects me is that he teaches me that there is nothing very serious in life. He puts me at ease and he reminds me that we are all human. I don't get overstressed when I spend time with him because he knows how to make a joke out of everything.

[6]
Describe a relative of yours who is very kind. You should say:
Who the relative is
What he does and where he lives
What kinds of kind things he/she does
And explain the effect he/she has on you.

Let me describe my grandfather. He was-I should say was because he passed away a few years ago-very kind. My grandfather was just a farmer, and he didn't earn much, but he found different ways to earn an income, and managed to put my father through university. He lived in a village just north of Beijing and often made the trip into the city. His life was hard, but he never complained about it.
I say he was so kind because I'll never forget the efforts he made to help me read. I was five years old and I haven't learned to read yet. My grandfather spent so many hours helping me because my father had no time. He would force me to come to his place and he tutored me very strictly because he was determined that I would get a head start on the other students. As a result, I could read before I entered school, and that helped me gain an advantage in school.
Besides the fact that he taught me reading, he also taught me the value and importance of. kindness to others. He told me that you don't do kindness just to gain favour, but because that's what your true nature expects you to do. As well, he taught me that kindness isn't all smiles and praise; sometimes it involves strict and harsh words for the right reasons. He also told me that a kind person always dies happy and I think he also died happy.

[7]
Describe a famous person that you admire.
You should say:
Who the person is and where he/she lives
What the person does
The things you admire about this person
And explain what you think people can learn from this person.

The famous person I'd like to describe is Fu Mingxia. She was a gold medallist at Sydney Olympic games. In fact, she won four of them. She won them in the diving competition. She's now a student at Tsinghua University. So she's quite clever and she will graduate from a top university. She's about 25 years old. I think she must be blessed by god to be able to dive so perfectly. After all, most divers have trained in diving schools that are very sophisticated, but her training was not so privileged. She just worked hard and had a very committed coach.
I think I admire her so much because I can imagine how nervous she felt having the whole world watching her and yet she controlled that nervousness masterfully to make a perfect dive. Well, its that ability to control yourself that I'd really love to learn. Also, her diving style was unique and very-brave, and because of her innovative style, she has brought pride to her country.
I think that people can learn that by being the best at something you are not only helping yourself
but the whole country, because high quality is what improves our lives. I think people can learn that nothing is impossible if we set our minds to being the best. We shouldn't always think we can just do what we must to get by. Our goals should be much more ambitious. We should try to be the best because we can take pride from the value of hard work in everything we do.

[8]
Describe a person who has worked very hard to achieve something.
You should say:
Who the person is and what relationship he/she has to you
What the person tried to achieve and the outcome
The person's character
And explain how this person makes you feel.

The person I want to talk about who worked hard to achieve something is the famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Of course, I've never met him but I did see him once in Beijing. He was coming out from the airport and someone said, "There's Zhang Yimou", and sure enough it was.
I once read a biography of Zhang Yimou. He really had to struggle to become a director. I read that he literally camped out and begged to be accepted at a famous school in Beijing called the Beijing Film and Cinematography Academy. He was five years over the age limit, but he submitted a portfolio of his best photographs to the Minister of Culture, and the minister was impressed and let him in.
I also know that he put a lot of effort into making his films artistic and realistic and sometimes he took chances and made some adventurous films. Like in 1987, he directed Red Sorghum and took a chance with the story, which was a bit controversial, and he also used an unknown actress at the time named Gong Li. He then went on to produce a lot of award winning films, and now he is Chinese best-known filmmaker. You can say that he is a bit of celebrity now.
I don't know that much about his personality. I know he is a perfectionist and he expects things to be perfect when he directs. He loves natural things in life and he expects actors and actress to "be that way as well. He is quite rebellious but, I think he's realistic, and willing to make compromises as well.
I guess I look at Zhang Yimou as being the kind of person that a lot of Chinese aspire to be. He's sort of cool, courageous, and blunt. He also makes the simple beautiful, which in my mind is a kind of magic.

Describe a person who knows a lot about something.
You should say:
Who the person is and how you know him/her
What the person knows a lot about
How he/she learned about this skill or area of knowledge And explain how this person affects you.

[9]

The person I will talk about is my former Chinese Literature professor in University. He has his PhD in Chinese Classical Literature, and also has a Masters of Asian Studies from the University of Cambridge.
This person is just a walking library who has so much stored knowledge of Chinese literature that you wonder how one brain could hold that much knowledge. He has written 13 books on various writers including Lao She, Lu Xun and others. He did his thesis comparing English literary stories and Chinese classics. He has appeared on TV programs and even was the guest of a TV show in England while he was visiting there. His English is spectacular, and he could probably teach just that if he wanted to.
Amazingly, my Professor actually said he was not that good of a student until he got to University. In fact, the University that he initially studied in was not that high ranking, but he scored well and then did his Masters elsewhere