【正确答案】[听力原文]
EXAMINER: Let's move on to Part 3. We discussed an experience in which a piece of equipment or other device you used broke and now I'd like to discuss with you one or two more general questions related to this. Let's consider first of all, quality of products. Are most products designed with durability in mind?
CANDIDATE: Well, that's an interesting question. I think from one perspective, well, we'd like to imagine that products are designed with durability in mind so that they last for a long time and therefore people wouldn't have to buy new products in a short period of time. However, I think that some companies quite deviously design their products so that they actually break fairly easily. Because of this, then you're forced to buy maybe the latest product.
EXAMINER: Should parts for products be universally available or only available from the original manufacturer?
CANDIDATE: I think from the customer's point of view it would be useful if they were universally available. This would make it much easier for them to buy parts when necessary. However, I can understand that companies would put a patent on their parts so that you would have to buy from them.
EXAMINER: How important are product warranties?
CANDIDATE: I think product warranties are fairly important for expensive items. If, for example, you bought a new laptop, which maybe costs, you know, say 1,000 pounds, it would be rather silly not to have a warranty because if it broke, then you would have to buy a new one. Whereas if you had a warranty, you could replace it free of charge possibly.
EXAMINER: Now let's talk about dealing with problems. Were people in the past more patient than people in today's society?
CANDIDATE: Yeah, I think people probably were more patient in the past. I think the main reasons for this are that we live in a society which expects instant gratification, especially since the development of the Internet where we can immediately find a piece of information or send an email to friends. We're not used to waiting for a long time any longer.
EXAMINER: Do people from different cultures deal with problems in different ways?
CANDIDATE: I think they probably do. For example, I think in the west we tend to express our problems much more openly. Whereas say in Asia, people try and not express them as much. So I think both of these have advantages and disadvantages. For example, I think often in the west maybe if we wouldn't voice our problems or concerns so much, then it wouldn't seem so much of a problem. I think we tend to dramatise them somewhat.
EXAMINER: And could you discuss some of the different ways males and females react to problems?
CANDIDATE: Well, I think when faced with a problem, males tend to try and deal with the problem somewhat rationally. So rather than getting overly irate or emotional, they'll probably think, you know, "What is the problem?" ; "Is there something I can do?". If there is something that they can do, they'll do it and if not, then they may just, you know, let it be. Whereas there is a view, that women can sometimes deal with problems in a much more emotional manner.
EXAMINER: Let's talk about reliance on technology. In what ways do we depend on technology in modern life?
CANDIDATE: I think that nowadays we tend to rely on technology quite a lot. We've almost become slaves to technology, I'd say especially to email. You know, we can't stop ourselves from logging onto the Internet every hour to check if someone's tagged a picture of us or something. So, in some ways it's made our life more convenient but I think from another perspective, we rely on it too much.
EXAMINER: What are some of the dangers of relying on technology?
CANDIDATE: I think that some of the dangers are that it can actually distance us from other people. So although having things like email and messenger allows us to communicate with people instantly, it somewhat reduces the personal element of communication.
EXAMINER: What roles do you see technology play in the future?
CANDIDATE: That's quite a difficult question. I mean, in the past 20 years there has been a huge change in technology so I guess our imagination is the limits for what could happen in the future. I suppose it would be possible that we could have a microchip implanted in our brain whereby we could just think of something and thereby call someone or send a text message without even having to use our hands.
EXAMINER: Thank you very much. That is the end of the speaking test.