2015年9月5日托福口语独立部分小范围预测

1、Do you agree that parents put more pressure on students in school than ever before?

Sample answer: I agree with the statement, because students need to work harder to survive the ferocious competition. For example, my cousin’s now studying in high school, where his success is decided by his academic performance. His parents are quite strict about his grade as it affects his application for the universities abroad. He is forced to study from early morning to late at night. What makes his more stressed out is that he has to attend language training classes in order to get a high score in the TOEFL test. Fortunately, he successfully got the offers from several US top institutions and realized his dream. Without his parents’ strictness, I don’t think he would be as successful as he is now.

2、Which do you think is the more important quality for someone to be successful: taking risks or making safe decisions?

Sample answer: I definitely go for making safe decision, because it lays the foundations for a person’s later career. For example, my best friend used to be a top student in the university. However, when he was a sophomore, he suddenly made a risky decision that he wanted to drop out of the university, as he would like to start his own business like what Bill Gates did. Unfortunately, he failed due to his lack of working experience and theoretical knowledge about setting up a new company. He found business managing and innovation were much more difficult than he had imagined, but if he had continued his study, I believe that it would be more possible for him to be successful in his career.

NOTES: this answer can be also applied in the following topics:

Your friend wants to drop out of university, do you agree with his decision?
　　Do you agree or disagree: in order to run a successful business, a person needs to be friendly and outgoing.
　　Some people prefer to make decisions quickly, others prefer to take their time to make decisions. Which do you prefer and why?

3、Is it always good to keep honesty, even if others disagree with you?

Sample answer: I do agree with the statement, because it’s especially vital to certain irrational group decisions. For example, I used to work for a computer company, where we were discussing about the design of a new product. As first, I proposed that a new look is required to attract more customers, but the senior managers believed that our focus should always be on technology. As a result, most of the coworkers agreed with them. What about me? I hate to admit it, but I also followed their suggestion because I didn’t want to waste time to argue with them. It turned out that our new computer was not competitive enough to appeal to customers as our main competitors invented products with a new look and prevented us from profiting.

4、Which of the following volunteer work would you choose and why? 1. Working as a home tutor 2. Helping adults to read 3. Providing transportation for elder people.

Sample answer: I prefer to be a home tutor, because it allows me to accumulate working experience as a teacher. For example, my sister Amy used to major in education as she dreamed of being a primary school teacher. Last summer vacation, she found a part-time job as a home tutor to teach primary school kids English. She mainly helped them with their homework and taught simple native expressions. She continued doing this job for the whole university life. After she graduated, due to her experience in teaching, she became competitive enough to find a job as an English teacher in a primary school. I’m itching for being an English teacher as well, so I would follow what Amy did.

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