在雅思口语的教学过程中我们会发现,对于很多口语题目,尤其是第二部分的题目,并不是所有的学生都会有题目中提到的经历,即使有相似的亲身经历,也无法答出2分钟的答案,因为学生的经历没有这么的具体详细,也没有这么多的情节,比如借东西、坏了的设备、好消息、有偿工作、成功的小公司、一堂课、看书学习的地方等等。那么,我们可以灵活地改变一下思路,把新托福口语的部分内容借鉴过来,让雅思口语的内容瞬间丰富起来。
首先,笔者为大家解释一下,为什么新托福口语的内容可以被雅思口语借鉴,这取决于新托福口语的特点。新托福口语的内容中,整体来说分为两部分:校园生活和学术场景。新托福口语的涉及点紧扣大学校园中的学生生活,这一点和雅思口语的题目是非常吻合的,再加上新托福的内容有对话的形式,丰富而细致,因此可以为雅思口语提供很多很好用的思路。此外,新托福的讲座部分为学术型的题目提供了比较多的思路和细节,但是雅思口语对学术内容考查的比例不是特别大,因此学术讲座的内容使用度较低。下面,我们就来看看以上提出的几个题目是如何借鉴新托福口语的思路的。
Describe theexperience that you borrowed something from others.
这道题目对于很多雅思考生来说,感觉比较简单,自己也比较熟悉这个话题,但是就是没有什么可说的,只说了几句就没有思路了。其实,借东西的话题本身没有太多内容,说清楚借什么、为什么借和感激对方之后,就没有什么可说了。其实,在新托福口语中,有一道第五题的内容十分适合,大家可以在下面的托福口语听力原文中找到很多启发。
(man) Hey, Kerri, what’s the matter?
(woman) Well, you know I’m in the choir, right? And we have a concertin an hour, just an hour from now?
(man) I know, I’m going, really looking forward to hearing you sing.What’s the trouble?
(woman) Well, we’re all supposed to wear white shirts and blackpants at the concert. You know, so we all look the same.
(man) Right?
(woman) Well, I wore my white shirt to dinner and I spilt spaghettisauce all over it.
(man) Oh, no!
(woman) Yeah, there’s a huge red stein on it. I can’t wear it forthe concert now. It’s the only white shirt I have and there’s no time to go tothe store to buy another one.
(man) Wow! What are you gonna do?
(woman) Well, I just called the choir director and he’s obviouslyunhappy about all this. But I told him about another shirt I have, it’s not exactlywhite, not white like the others, sort of off white, sort of cream-colored? Andhe says it’s OK for me to wear it, but…
(man) But it’s not exactly the same color as the others.
(woman) Right. I’ll feel kind of funny. Some people in the audiencewould probably be able to tell.
(man) Hmmm. Don’t any of the other choir members have an extra whiteshirt you could borrow?
(woman) No, I’ve already asked around. But my roommate has one.
(man) Great, use hers.
(woman) Well, the thing is, she’s out of town. I’ve tried callingher but haven’t been able to reach her. She probably wouldn’t mind, but,you know, I’ve never borrowed her stuff before and I really don’t like takingthings without asking.
我们看一下划线的部分:很多同学在准备雅思考题时,没有想过这么细致的理由,我们可以在解释为什么要借东西的时候,说得仔细点,像上文中的内容一样,“衬衣需要在合唱队表演时候穿,但是吃饭的时候,衬衣被弄脏了,而且没有时间再去买一件新的了”,这样内容就丰富了许多,也就不愁借东西的话题没有思路了。还有后面的部分,大家可以说借的过程遇到了什么情况,比如上文中说的“联系不上同学”,然后后面的内容可以自己发挥一下,比如“终联系上了,借到了衬衣,很感激同学”,这样内容就很充分了。
再来看一个借东西的例子:
Woman: Hey Steve, did you get that book on the Russian Revolution thatProfessor Harper wants us to read?
Man: No, none of the bookstores in the campus area had it in stock.They’ll get it in about two weeks.
Woman: Hm…so what are you going to do in the meantime? Remember, that we’regoing to be discussing the book starting next Tuesday.
Man: I was thinking of placing a rush order with a bookseller on theinternet, so I’d have the book in about a day or two.
Woman: Yeah, but rush order delivery is expensive. You could easilyspend twice as much money for the book that way.
Man: I know, but what choice do I have?
Woman: Well, since we only have to read a couple of chapters at atime, you’re welcome to share my copy for a few weeks. You know, until you canget yours at the bookstore.
Man: You mean…you would read the chapters assigned, give the book tome, I’d read those chapters, then give the book back to you to read the nextset of chapters, and so on……
对于这个思路,我们也可以借鉴,借书的情况是学生经常会遇到的,但是雅思考生们却会把为什么借书说得很简单,比如:忘记带书,或者自己的书丢了。我们根据上文的提示,可以描述为:这本书是老师要求买的,但是书店买不到,要等两周以后才能买到,但是老师要求下周就要讨论这本书的内容。然后可以讲述这个愿意借书给我的同学很热心,愿意与我分享她的书。在上面的内容中,我们可以得到很多的启发,校园生活的细节可能有一些我们没有经历过,因此看看新托福口语中的内容,看看别的学生经历过的内容,我们就能答出更多句子了。
我们来看下面的设备出问题的话题,也可以在新托福口语中找到对应的思路。
Describe a problemwith an equipment you had.
(man) Hey, Jennifer. How are things going?
(woman) Well, I’m relieved this is the end of semester. Butthat’s actually part of my problem.
(man) What do you mean?
(woman) Can you believe this? My computer broke yesterday.So it’s at the shop being repaired. It won’t be ready until the end of nextweek which is when all my papers are due.
(man) Why not use the computer lab? They’ve got lots ofmachines there.
(woman) I know. But it gets so noisy there that I can’t keepmy mind on my work. I mean, when I’m at a computer, I’m not just typing.I’m thinking! So I need quiet to concentrate.
(man) Maybe you can try going in the morning or evening. Itmight be less noisy then.
(woman) Maybe. But this time of year, everybody’s working onpapers. It could be crowded even then.
(man) Hmm. What about calling back the computer repair shopto see if they can have your computer ready at the beginning of next weekinstead? That would still give you enough time to finish your papers by the endof the week.
(woman) Oh! I haven’t thought of that! The only problem is theshop is closed today and tomorrow for the long holiday weekend. So it’ll be afew days before I can talk to them.
设备坏了这个思路也是比较难答的,因为同学们要么没有经历过设备坏了的情况,要么是感觉设备坏了,去修理这个思路太简单,没话说。我们看看上文,可以得到一些启发:电脑坏了,维修商店下周末才能修理好,但是到时候就来不及使用电脑来写论文了。之后经历的困难也可以说:学校的计算机房很吵,而且很拥挤;打电话找维修商店,却要等两天才能联系上。再后面的经历就要自己发挥了,因为新托福口语中并未给出之后的结果,这种题型是开放式的结尾,但在雅思中,我们就要把结果顺理成章地描述出来了,比如:终借了同学的电脑(可以结合借东西的那个题目),很感激这位同学;或者,维修店提早完成了维修,我能够使用自己的电脑了。这样,设备坏的内容就丰富了许多。
对于下面这道题,我们主要可以借鉴前面的部分:电视或新闻上得到的好消息,可以是像下面这位同学一样,得到了一个获奖的消息。
Describe apiece of good news on TV or Internet.
(man) Hey, Madison, what’s wrong?
(woman) Oh, I’m just struggling about what to do? I won an awardfrom the Pacific Journalism Institute for an article I submitted, and…
(man) Doesn’t sound like anything’s wrong.
(woman) Well, it’s a huge honor to win and there’s an awardceremony they’ve invited me to attend which I am super excited about. But,and here’s what’s frustrating, I’ve got a philosophy exam that scheduled to endright when the ceremony begins.
(man) Uh oh! You’re saying you’ll just be finishing up taking the examright when the ceremony starts?
(woman) Exactly!
(man) But those ceremonies never start on time, they give longintroductions, you know, after a general speech or something before they everget to handing out awards. I’m sure they won’t be ready to hand out your awardright at the beginning. Just go when you’re done with the test. You won’t missanything important.
(woman) Maybe, but that’s a bit risky. I don’t want to miss beingthere when they announce my name.
(man) Well, have you talked to your professor about this?
(woman) Dr. Forester? No.
(man) Maybe she’ll let you take the test some other time……
我们来看划线的部分:在网上得到好消息可以是获奖的内容,还有就是被邀请参加获奖的颁奖典礼,后面的内容我们可以适当地借鉴,但是无法完全使用了,可以在自己的答案中设置一些去参加颁奖典礼的困难,时间冲突,但是再后面的内容就要自己发挥了。
再来看看有偿工作这道题目:
Describe apaid job you took.
Starting this year, the university dining hall will be transformed intoThe Campus Dining Club for one week at the end of each semester. During thelast week of each semester, the dining hall will feature special meals preparedby the university’s culinary arts students. The school feels that this willgive students who are studying cooking and food preparation valuable experiencethat will help them later, when they pursue careers. The university hasannounced that it will charge a small additional fee for these dinners in orderto pay for the special gourmet food ingredients that will be required.
(woman) Did you see that article?
(man) Yeah, and it sounds like a great idea. It’s really good forstudents in that program.
(woman) Don’t they cook in class anyway?
(man) Well, yeah, they do. But, my cousin was in the program a fewyears ago, and she said that it’s very different to cook for a lot of people inthat kind of atmosphere than to cook for classmates.
(woman) Why is that?
(man) Well, in class you can take your time, but, cooking for morepeople, there’s more pressure, I mean, you’re in a rush, people are waitingand it might be easy to make a mistake with all that stress.
(woman) Then I’ll think you are a bad chef, right?......
我们可以把这道题目的思路设置为:我曾经学过一些烹饪的技术,下个学期开始,学校食堂可以让学过烹饪的学生在食堂做饭,并且付给学生工资报酬,这项工作不仅可以让我挣到钱,更可以积累一些经验,让我体会到在实际操作中像真正的厨师一样,压力比较大,积累经验,以后可以找到更好的工作。如果大家担心具体做饭的内容不会描述的话,我们可以看下面一个思路,这个更适合学生们来回答。
The business studies department at StateUniversity will now require all students enrolled in its program to completeone semester of work experience in a local corporation or small business. It isfelt that students will benefit from this work experience by developingleadership and organizational skills that would not normally be learned in aclassroom or campus setting. Furthermore, the relationships that students establish with thecompany that they work for may help them to secure permanent employment withthat company once they have completed the program and graduated.
这是新托福口语第三题的reading部分,我们可以使用划线的部分,参加的是学校要求的项目,学生可以有偿实习,学习一些经验,比如领导力、组织能力、沟通能力等等,在对应的听力部分还讲了学生在公司办公室做了一些工作(typing, photocopying, filing), 还可以讲讲这份工作的好处,自己的感想等内容。
下面还有一个图书馆的例子,在对话中,有提到图书馆中的设施,而且比较具体,因此我们可以借鉴使用:
Describe aplace for study or read.
Man: They’re making a mistake.
Woman: What do you mean?
Man: Look, they’re trying to do away with distractions so that wecan study better. But with this change, we won’t have anywhere in thelibrary to get together to work on group projects.
Woman: True. Group project work is common these days.
Man: So, instead of buying these new units, they should use themoney to build meeting rooms, and that would reduce any noise in the mainlibrary areas.
Woman: Yeah, that’s what we could really use. There’s just not as muchneed to work in isolation.
Man: Exactly. And the other thing is, what’s this about overcrowding?Well, sure we have more students enrolled in the university this year, but dowe really have a problem with overcrowding?
Woman: I don’t think so. I always get a whole table to myself.
Man: Right. I see empty tables there all the time. It’ll just be awaste of money to replace what we have. Since what we have now is sufficientfor the amount of students that use the library.
在这个例子中,我们可以看到,图书馆中的设施有cubicle(在口语的阅读部分有提到),还有multipersonal desks, 还有meeting room, 重点是meeting rooms可以被用来做小组讨论,而cubicle可以隔离开学生们,减少噪音,便于学生自己做作业。这些内容都是我们可以在雅思口语中使用的。此外,新托福中有很多关于图书馆的介绍,比如图书馆的书籍在什么位置,图书管理员的工作具体内容,学生可以在图书馆实习,借阅规定和罚款制度等等,这些都是可以在雅思口语中使用的。
在以上的各个例子中,我们可以看出,雅思口语和新托福口语有很多相通的部分,如果能相互借鉴,相互套用,备考就变得容易了许多。在平时的练习中,很多题目是雅思考生不太熟悉,或者自身没有亲身经历过的,因此要借鉴、发挥很多内容。对于雅思口语Part2, 我们要准备充足的思路,充足的句子,才能回答完整的两分钟,若是一些题目看起来比较熟悉,却没有像新托福口语中讲述的细节那样,就缺乏了很多具体描述的突破口,答题也会受到很多的限制。