【正确答案】Topic Card A
a) Is it good for students to have part-time jobs?
Candidate A: I would like to choose the first topic.
In my view, doing part-time jobs can broad one's vision and helps gain some experiences. Since most students enter college as soon as they finish their middle school, they lack experiences in the ways of society. When they graduate from college, they find the outside world is not as simple as they thought and have difficulty in adjusting themselves to reality. Many students find doing part-time job is a good way to solve the problem. While working, they learn how to deal with different kinds of people and situations. Gradually, they increase their knowledge and deepen their understanding of society.
Part-time jobs can provide students with pocket money. Nowadays, the expenses of college students are high. Girl students like to have some fashionable clothes, while boy students want good sneakers and T-shirts. The pay for the part-time job can help cover the expenses.
Besides, doing part-time jobs makes students feel self-reliant. "I feel rather ashamed every time I receive money from home. I'm no longer a child, yet I still have to be supported by my parents". Such words are often heard on campus. Young people talk a lot about independence. They are aware if one is not economically independent, one cannot enjoy true independence.
In a word, it is a good thing.
Candidate 13: Do you take one part-time job?
Candidate A: Yes. I do some teaching in my spare time. I benefit a lot.
Interlocutor: What are the disadvantages of doing part-time job?
Candidate A: Students are not mature enough so that they are vulnerable to some social evils and may easily go astray. They cannot distinguish right from wrong. It also turns one from knowledge learning to money pursuing.
b) More and more people realize the importance of the health, how do you keep fit?
Candidate A: I would like to choose the second topic.
A healthy body is very important to every one of us. When you are sick, you feel painful all over your body, have no energy to work; and the only thing you want to do is lying on the bed. When you are healthy, you can eat well, sleep well, sing and jump happily, do all the things you like to enjoy life.
The methods to keep us fit vary. In the morning, you can get up early, go outdoors, breathe the fresh air, and do physical exercises. Running and swimming are extremely helpful to keep one fit. If you are a busy person and have no special time allocated to do these things, there are still some ways useful for you to keep fit. The easiest way is to walk to your office instead of riding a bike or taking a bus. You also have to take a routine physical checkup. Your doctor will know the condition of your body most clearly, and he will give you the most valuable advice to keep fit. You should always try to make yourself happy. If you feel happy, you can eat well, sleep well, and your body is sure to be in an excellent condition.
Health is the most valuable possession a person expects in his life. Trying every means to keep fit is my advice to the people who want to live a happy life.
Candidate B: Why do people want to keep fit?
Candidate A: For many reasons. Some want to get a good figure, some want to get a healthy body and so on.
Interlocutor: Do you think it is necessary for some people keeping a diet to keep fit?
Candidate A: Not necessarily. Perhaps they will pay their health as a price.
c) How do you solve the problem of heavy traffic?
Candidate A: I would like to choose the third topic.
In order to solve the present heavy traffic problem, I have the following solutions.
Firstly, more and wider roads should be laid down and more underground railways and tunnels should be constructed to accelerate the flow of traffic to relieve the traffic congestion. Secondly, more routes of buses should be opened up; thus we can reduce the number of bikes and cars and the roads will be cleaner and smoother. Thirdly, the government should issue stricter traffic laws and regulations and impose more severe and harsher penalty on the violator. At the same time, the government should raise the public awareness of the traffic problem, popularize the education of traffic regulations, and improve the quality of the citizens. Fourthly, the government should discuss private car ownership by reducing access to parking lots and levying higher taxes on car owners. Lastly, develop new forms of public transportation, which are clean, energy-saving and space-saving.
In my view, if the government and ordinary citizens join hands in solving the heavy traffic problem, I think in the near future we will enjoy a more comfortable and smoother journey every day, breathing fresher and cleaner air without harsh noises pushing into our ears.
Candidate B: What is the main cause of this problem?
Candidate A: First, the streets are too old and narrow to meet the present need. Second, there are more vehicles than ever. Third, many drivers do not obey regulations.
Interlocutor: What kinds of problem does heavy traffic bring about?
Candidate A: Too many cars running on the streets lead to air pollution and noise pollution. Everyday there are many traffic jams which cause great inconveniences to people.
Topic Card B
a) What do you think of the relationship between competition and development?
Candidate B: I would like to choose the first topic.
Nowadays, competition has almost become a natural part in every aspect of our life. On the sports ground, for example, sportsmen do their best to win the champion. In the business field, businessmen try every means to gain more profits. In schools, students exert all their efforts in a race against their classmates for good marks.
Competition is cruel, but it does play an important role in one's personal development. Firstly, competition stimulates us to work harder. As we know we may fail if we fall behind the others, we will devote more efforts to work, which will inevitably help to improve our abilities. Secondly, competition can make us psychologically strong. Since only the fittest survive, we will have to become strong to adapt to the cold competitions. Thirdly, competition strengthens the idea of equality of opportunity, so that each person has chances to display his ability. In short, it is competition that helps to bring our ability into full play.
In my opinion, competition-is a double-edged sword. It can sharpen one's skills and capabilities on one hand; on the other hand it can also weigh down a person with unbearable pressure. So it is important for an individual to view competition in a constructive way, so that we can use it dynamically rather than destructively for personal development.
Candidate A: How shall we face the fierce competition?
Candidate B: Perhaps we need a lifelong study to adapt to this fierce competition.
Interlocutor: For you is competition a good thing?
Candidate B: No, I don't like it, it brings a lot of pressure which make me hard to breathe.
b) What is your attitude to examinations?
Candidate B: I would like to choose the second topic.
As long as students are forced to get good marks in order to get good jobs; and as long as teachers want their students to get good marks so that they themselves can gain fame as good teachers, then everything depends on examinations.
A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so the student is encouraged to memories. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive the teacher of all freedom. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under pressure.
They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person's true ability and aptitude.
Candidate A: Do you like being tested?
Candidate B: No, I hate it. It makes me anxious and gives me a lot of pressure.
Interlocutor: What are the advantages of having examinations?
Candidate B: Exams help employers tin their selection of employees, and it provides a clear standard by which the students can assess themselves from time to time.
c) Modern technology makes our life better or worse?
Candidate B: I would like to choose the third topic.
As the proverb goes "every coin has two sides", modern technology is no exception. In my opinion'the modern technology makes our life more convenient.
First, modern transport means make it very convenient for people to travel far or near, thus saving a lot of time and energy. By plane, people can cover a distance of one thousand in an hour. The world is made smaller.
Second, modern science and technology promote the productivity, freeing people from tiring and vexing manual and mechanical labor. Many kinds of heavy and dangerous work have been done by computerized machines more efficiently and more quickly. People can be released from toils and enjoy much more leisure time and freedom.
Third, the advent of the Internet has ushered in a brand new era of global information. Modern devices of telecommunications to a great extent facilitate and enhance the exchange of information between people. Moreover, modern science and technology are emotionally beneficial. A phone call, an e-mail or a fax brings people closer at much lower cost and makes the world smaller.
Fourth, advancing medical science has made it possible for human beings to lead a much longer and suffer less from different kinds of diseases.
In a word, modern technology enables the human society to enjoy an unprecedented rate of development in all respects.
Candidate A: What kinds of problems does technology bring about to us?
Candidate B: Such as global warming, power shortage, and more diseases.
Interlocutor: Would you like to live in a home equipped with most advanced technologies?
Candidate B: Sure. I would like to live in that. I think with the help of the technology, it can help me to do some chores, so I can free from that.