2012年7月22日长沙新托福培训口语真题点拨

文/长沙新航道新托福培训助教：曹欣 赵瑾璟 赵刚 俞怡

 

1. Describe a social change

I think the price of housing is higher in China today. It is awkward that a common Chinese citizen cannot afford even a flat. And two main reasons should be mentioned.

First, the competition about land ownership is harsher than ever before. The government takes land auctions as the major source of revenue. So if the investors want to win the building land, they should pay more money than other competitors.

And, overpopulation is the other reason behind this phenomenon. Population explosion leads to not enough shelters for people to live in cities and the housing price is rising higher.

Anyway, I hope the government can control the increasing price to an appropriate level in the near future. （曹欣）

 

In my view, what impresses me most is the gender imbalance among newborns in China, which is the most significant demographic change for the country’s population of 1.3 billion.

Due to China’s traditional bias towards male children, gender selection abortions are “extremely common”, especially in rural areas. Therefore, some experts predict that the gender imbalance will lead to more inter-generational marriages, namely, a wife is older than her husband.

What’s more, people’s minds have changed a lot during the last 20 years because some young couples either don’t want to have a second child, or would prefer to live a DINK life. Finally, I would obtain that gender imbalance will become more and more serious, which is also a big change that needs to be paid attention to.（赵瑾璟）

 

It is a totally different world compared with 30 year ago. At that time, Chairman Mao was our leader and people were living in a safe community in spite of their shortage of necessities.

But now, although our living standard has been dramatically improved, connections between people have narrowed. It is common that you don't even know your neighbor's name regardless of the years you've lived nearby. Worse still, people nowadays are less willing to give a hand. Elders are less likely to receive help and it is difficult for the needy who spread everywhere to get relief.（俞怡）

 

The booming economy brings about an obvious social change, globalization, which generally affects people’s outlook towards the world.

As we can see, there are more than ever foreign faces in our cities. In the past, people stared at foreigners in that they were different.

However, nowadays, people regard it as something ordinary when they see foreigners because of the globalization. People from all over the globe travel to China to experience as well as impression. Traditional Chinese culture is blended subtly with exotic elements. Foreign restaurants take their roots in our streets because Chinese people have already accepted the different foods.

All in all, globalization is transforming China and the way its people live and think.（赵刚）

 

 

2. Which of the two following suggestions for overseas students do you like better, 

to live with friends or to live with local families?

I suggest overseas students live with local families if they study abroad.

There are several reasons I would like to mention.

Firstly, overseas students can get language practice all the time when they live with locals, which helps to improve their speaking abilities greatly.

Secondly, living with local families helps them to get a better, more authentic experience to live in that country in the real world by experiencing the local food, customs and making new local friends.

Moreover, living with local families can create an environment much like “home” as you could. You are able to take part in family activities, such as daily house chores, family parties and local festival celebrations as a member of the family. （曹欣）

 

As far as I am concerned, I would choose to live with local families.

First, we may face many difficulties about life and study when living abroad. We can get better and more authentic experience from local people rather than living with friends.

In addition, living with a family opens up a whole new social circle for us and teaches us lots of living skills such as how to do the cleaning and cook the food, which can hardly be learned when getting along with friends.

Finally, you may feel lonely when living far away from your parents, but most families are so nice that you end up with a new second family, which contains household warmth that you cannot get from friends.（赵瑾璟）

 

In regard of a better accommodation for overseas students, I would prefer a local family, and my accounts are as follows.

Firstly, living with the local families provides us with a great chance to practice oral English. We all know that the best way of learning a language is to be immersed in a favorable speaking environment. You know, if everyone around you speaks English, do you have to worry about not having the opportunity to practice?

Also, living with local families would enable us to know and to experience its culture, which is crucial for us to learn the country we're going to stay.

So, with some short-backs it would possibly bring, I still support the choice of living with local family.（俞怡）

 

Personally speaking, I recommend the latter.

In my opinion, studying overseas does not only mean the most up-to-now knowledge but also a new conception of life and a more comprehensive understanding of the world. In order to achieve the goals, a student should spend much more time together with local people, ‘cause that’s the most efficient way to know about the life style, the customs and the values of local people.

On the contrary, those who only hang out with friends, especially friends from the same country, will have a rather limited social circle and without proper communication with local people, the students won’t be able to blend in with local culture easily.

So living with local families will be my suggestion.（赵刚）