托福機經2016.03.19口語

Task 1

If you are a teacher of a tutor group and you are going to take students to a study trip, where would you take them to? A science museum, a local farm, or a theatre performance?

Sample response

If I were the teacher, I’d take my students to a local farm for sure. With the great leap forward of urbanization, most kids lose the opportunity to learn about our mother nature unwittingly. As a teacher myself, I couldn’t remember how many times I threw out the question “tell me about your favorite animal” with uncomfortably long pauses. My students find it tough to answer the question from direct experience. They aren’t able to list typical features of those animals or their living habits or anything! What a shocking fact! So I’d love to provide my students a chance to get closer to those warm creatures and soft grasslands than to cold machines and concrete streets.

Task 2

Agree or disagree that students should take some additional courses so that they can get their credits more quickly?

Sample response

Personally speaking, taking additional courses shouldn't be encouraged at school. To begin with, the purpose of attending school is not only limited to obtaining credits and degrees, but also taking time to ponder on the moment of truth and take pleasure to swim in the sea of knowledge. Extra time and energy could spill over better places like reading extensively as well as intensively on areas of interest, and participating in all sorts of seminars to learn from established professors and curious peers. Besides, school is a wonderful place to meet like-mind souls and appreciate the attractiveness of differences. Spending more time learning from people around you is much more valuable than getting lost in the hustle and bustle of earning credits.

Task 3

【提議】：學校公告推遲一小時上課，從8am改為9am。讓學生睡更久，精力充沛更利于學習。教授有更多時間準備課程。

【學生議論】：男生不同意

理由一：如果學生知道不用早起自然會睡得更晚，實際上會減少休息時間。

理由二：教授那個時間正好趕上早高峰，反而在路上浪費更多時間。

Sample response

The university announces to put off the first class in the morning until an hour later, from 8am to 9am, so as to make students well-rested and better-prepared for classes. Plus, the professor gets more time to get well-prepared for classes. The man in the conversation is not in favor of this plan. He argues that students will stay up late instinctively if they are aware that they don’t have to get up early next morning. As for the point about professors, he points out that it is more likely for professors to get caught in the rush hours in the morning with such change. They’ll end up wasting more time on the road dealing with heavy traffic. In short, the plan would lead to more negative consequences rather than expected.

Task 4

【名詞解釋】：Negatively bias，負面特點對人們影響更大。

【教授舉例】：一個員工努力工作，知識淵博，樂于助人，然而脾氣暴躁，意見不一致時會和情緒激烈地爭論。所以當問他的同事他是否可以被晉升的時候，大家完全忽略了他的優點，只記得他容易生氣。所以最后沒有提拔。

Sample response

The passage talks about negatively bias which means the negative characteristic will impress people stronger than the positive ones. The professor presents us an example to illustrate this phenomenon. A worker in an insurance company is diligent, capable and knowledgeable. He always finishes work perfectly and loves to help others in need. However, his only shortcoming is that he’s easy to lose temper. One time he even argued with a coworker emotionally. So when it comes to the time of promotion, if the boss asks about the coworker’s option towards him, they will concentrate much more on his bad temper instead of all those favorable qualities.

Task 5

【學生困難】：春假期間女生想在寢室寫paper,室友卻有朋友來宿舍拜訪一整周。

【解決方案】：

方案一：和室友商量一下，希望室友能理解在宿舍不希望被打擾。

方案二：去圖書館，但圖書館假期每天只開放一段時間，剩下的時間不知道怎么辦。

Sample response

The woman is facing a dilemma at the moment. She’s planned to work on her paper in dorm during the spring break but her roommate will have a friend over for the whole week, which puts her in a tough spot. She can either talk to her roommate or go to the library instead. I’d suggest her choose the latter one. Firstly, as she mentions, taking to her roommate about the distraction on her study seems improper, and may even cause misunderstanding between them, so it’d be unwise to do so. Admittedly, the library’s open hour is shortened during the spring break and she’ll have less time to write her paper, such compression in time may as well stimulate her to work harder and to get the paper done more efficiently.

Task 6

The professor introduces two advantages of applying biological methods to control invasive plants. For one thing, comparing with chemical methods, biological methods cause less harm to the habitat. Unlike chemicals that may contaminate environment, insects will only eat the invasive plant. For example, scientists used to use insects to kill this kind of invasive cactus in New Zealand. Those insects do no damage to the environment but only to the cactus. Moreover, while using chemicals can be costly, using insects is a rather inexpensive way, because only a certain number of insects are needed in particular parts of the place. For instance, when bringing beetles to a land invaded by a species of weed in the United States, scientists just introduces a small number of insects and then those insects just naturally reproduce in great numbers and save the entire area.