??1. Some people prefer to give practical gifts while others prefer to giveentertaining gifts. Which do you prefer to give and why? Please use specificreasons and examples to support your answer.

Personally, I prefer to give practical gifts to my friends. Notebook,bookshelf, basketball and stuff are very good choices. For example, a friend cantake notes in class with the help of a notebook, they can create a shoppinglist, and even keep a diary by writing about what happened in their lives,including the things make them happy, sad and angry. Since the notebook is usedso often, it can help me to connect more with my friends, and keep ourfriendship forever. However, they might not care a lot if you give them thingslike, cartoon figurine, or other kinds of decorative stuff.

2. Nowadays many people find their social network on the Internet. Do youthink it is a positive trend?

Well, personally I am a big internet fan, and I think on-line socialnetworks is a very good to socialize with friends and family members, and evenget connected with professionals. Actually, it is instant and easy to use,social network like facebook, MSN, and professional social network-Linkedin.With wifi access and a tablet or smart phone, I can connect with people in notime. Additionally, before the invention of on-line social network, we have tocall someone through the phone or visit them in person and it is very costly interms of both money and time, cuz we have to physically be somewhere in order totalk to them face to face, with on-line social network, it makes it possible foryou to talk to loved ones more easily.

3. Do you agree or disagree with the statement: it is easier for peopletoday to lead a healthy life than people 100 years ago.

Personally, I would say it is easier for people to lead a healthy lifestyle now than the past, now, with the raising livelihood, more people haveaccess to nutritional food, like sea food, for example, salmon, tuna, shrimp andstuff like that. They are high in protein, low in carbs. Plus, the Food and DrugAdministration follow closely on the food safety issues, and it is very costlyfor relevant companies to have some loopholes in their food production. On topof all these, nowadays, people is much more attentive to their health than everbefore, with increased campaign on the both public and private side.

4. When traveling, do you prefer to stay at one place for a long time orspend less time but visit more places? Explain you answer in details.

Personally, I prefer to stay at one place for a long time. As for me, thepurpose of traveling around is to experience the local cultures and customs,appreciate the natural beauty there. You might have to take your time andinteract with the locals, taking photos, and it is quite impossible for one toachieve that if they just leave the place the time they arrive. Additionally,traveling between places waste lots of precious time, which can be otherwiseused to experience and understand one single place. Also, it saves you thetrouble to plan a complicated itinerary and you don’t have to worry aboutgetting stuck on your way to the next destination.

5. Do you prefer to live alone or live with others.

Personally, I prefer to live alone. Actually, I am very private person,most of the time, I keep things to myself. I would get distracted if I chose tolive with others who I might not familiar with. Actually, I am highly efficientwhen I do things without the disturb of others, like when I study I feel morecomfortable when nobody is around me. Plus, someone you are living with mighthave totally different habits and schedule when it comes to when to study orsleep or even watch TV. It would be really disruptive when one wants to studywhile the other prefers to watch TV.

6. Do you agree or disagree with the statement: employees should beprohibited to listen to music at work.

Well, personally, I think it’s a very bad idea to prohibit music inworkplace. Actually, listening to music is a very good way for people to releasetheir negative emotions, like sadness, or sorrow, or even anger. Employees mightforget about the pressure in life and thus have a higher efficiency in theworkplace. Additionally, music keeps people refreshed and spurs creativity andinnovation. So, that is why it is a common practice for high-tech to allow theplay of music in their office, just so that they can create a relaxingenvironment and be more creative, and thus make more breakthroughs in theirfield.

7. Some people like to participate in activities alone, others like to dothat with a team or group. Which way do you prefer and why?

Personally, I would like to participate in activities in a group, I am anextrovert and outgoing person, and I think it is more fun when there are peoplearound me. Plus, I can also learned the importance of cooperation andresponsibility when I am with a team, for example in a sport competition, me andmy teammate struggle together for a common goal, offer each other motivationalong the way, and I feel that I care something bigger than myself during thegame, and I think this is very meaningful.

8. Some people prefer to have a very tight schedule, while others prefer tohave more free time in their schedule. Which one do you prefer and why?

I would say I prefer a very tight schedule, I am the kind of person who arevery motivated under lots of workload, and I am likely to goof off when there isnot much to do. Having a tight schedule makes my day productive, like as astudent, I enjoy finishing assignments, like problem sets, papers, and evendoing group project with fellow classmates. I get a strong sense of achievementwhen I keep working nonstop. However, if I have lots of free time, I just stayin my apartment, and wasting my time, and that is certainly not the right thingto do.

9. Do you agree or disagree with the statement: University education ismore important than it was in the past.

Personally, I do think that higher education is more important than everbefore, to begin with, it is impossible for someone to get job without a decentcollege degree because of the competitive job market. We are not even talkingabout high-end and high paying jobs like a banker, a lawyer or otherprofessions. A office clerk position now requires a college degree.Additionally, since technology improves so fast that in order not to be replacedby robots or human intelligence, one needs to have higher education much morethan ever before, cuz in a university, you can learn advanced knowledge, skillsets in different field.

10. Do you agree or disagree with the statement: it is better to live closeto parents than to live far away from them.

Personally, I prefer to live close to my parents for the following reasons.To begin with, I am family person, and I enjoy to spend time with my families.To spending some quality time once in a while is very important to me, andliving close to my parents can help to do that more conveniently. Plus, if welive close to each other, we can constantly look out for one another. Like if Igot sick or have some kind of emergencies, my parents can attend me in a timelymanner. Also, they are getting old, and they need my immediate care, things canbe much easier if I live close to them.

11. Some people prefer to live in the present, others prefer to be preparedfor the future and plan ahead. Which do you prefer? Explain why.

Personally, I prefer to plan ahead instead of just living in the present.Although I am not particularly worried about the future, I do prefer to preparefor the worst case scenario. For example, I have the habit of saving money for arainy day, cuz if I don’t, I will be screwed up if I got an emergency and amurgent in need of money. Additionally, one can land more opportunities if onecan plan ahead for the future. Since sometimes it is impossible for you toachieve sometime in a single day, great achievement can only be made possible bygradual preparation.

12. When going on a vacation, some people prefer to stay in a hotel, whileothers prefer to camp outside in a tent. Which do you prefer?

Personally, I would choose to camp outside in a tent. The only reason forme to go on a vacation is to get away from the busy streets and concretejungles, and get a chance to be close to mother nature, by camping outside, Igot a chance to appreciate the beautiful starry sky at night, and enjoy thetranquility, I don’t have the chance to enjoy that moment when living in thecity. Also, camping outside makes it easier for you to do some hiking, likewalking on the trail, and do some fishing and BBQ.

　13. Do you agree or disagree with the statement: working in groups withpeople responsibilities is the most effective way to get the work done.

Personally, I couldn’t agree more with that. Indeed, the group is likely tofinish the work before deadline when working with highly responsible people.Consider this, when you work with unreliable colleagues, you might have noproblem to finish your fair share of the work, but it will be impossible foryour group to finish a project if your untrustworthy coworker is negligent.However, it will be far better to work with someone who is very liable, sincenot only can a responsible coworker finish his or her work on time, they canalso motivate others, thus, the group as whole tend to finish the work beforethe deadline.

14. Some people think that robots will very helpful for us in the future,other think robots will never be as smart as human. Which do you agree with?

Admittedly, robots are used in lots of aspects in modern life, like robotshave replaced lots of manual labor in factories, and they can also be used toexecute hazardous tasks, however, I think they will never be as smart as humans.Scientist can write programs so that they can be very intelligent, they can wina chess game over a very intelligent person, but they will never tell whethersomeone is happy or depressed, and will not act accordingly. The robotsthemselves will not be able to display their emotions. Emotional quotientmatters a lot when we are judging whether someone is smart or not. Thus, robotswill be as smart as human.

15. Do you agree with the following statement: it is important to study thehistory from ancestors.

I couldn’t agree more with that, learning history from ancestors is a greatway to learn the mindset, ideas, and attitudes of the past, and this gives us achance to learn from who we came from and find one’s identity. Additionally, wecan draw upon the ancient philosophy to make today’s world a better place,like ancient Chinese philosophy can gives us some insight on how to liveharmoniously with the mother nature and stop polluting the environment, to helpthe preserve the endangered species, and stuff like that.

16. Do you agree with the following statement: school should ban on alljunk food, such as hamburger, soda, and sugar from school property.

Personally, it is really important for the school to encourage healthyeating habits, and junk food like French fries and hamburgers alike should bebanned in schools. Too much junk food with high carbs leads to childhoodobesity. Add

itionally, Greasy junk food lacks certain vitamins for the healthydevelopment of the children, and students without sufficient healthy food mightsuffer from lack of concentration on their study and they get easily distracted,thus school should encourage healthy eating habit.

17. Some people like to do exam review in the morning, while others wouldlike to do that in the evening. Which one do you prefer and why?

I would say I like to review exams in the evening. One of the reasons isthat, I find it more quiet in the evening and I can concentrate on my reviewing,however if I did some review during the day, I would easily get distracted,actually, it is kind of noisy during the day, finding a peaceful spot to studyis pretty difficult. Also, I feel like I am more energetic during night time,and I am kind of sluggish during the day, so doing some review during the nightcan be really productive for me.

　18. Do you agree or disagree: school should ask their students to evaluateteachers.

Personally, I think that schools should ask their students to evaluateteachers. To begin with, this can give students a stake in the quality of theireducation, if a teacher fails the expectation of the students, they might getreplaced because their poor evaluation from the students., thus they studentsmight get a chance to have a much better teacher. Additionally, this providesthe teachers with very good feedback, so they can make some changes accordingly.They can make their lesson plan, course material and even PowerPoint slides muchnicer, therefore, students can improve their learning in the class.

　19. Some students prefer to go to universities or colleges in theirhometown. Others prefer to go to universities or colleges in new cities ortowns. Which do you prefer and why? Include details and examples in yourexplanation.

Personally, I prefer to study in a new city. I think it is very boring tostay in your city, where you have been living for almost 20 years, they peopleyou will meet are still those you met during primary school and high school.However, to be able to study in another city, you get a chance to learn theirlocal cultures, appreciate the natural beauty, and above all meet more excitingpeople, and by interacting with local people and making new friend in that cityduring college, you can broaden your horizon and enrich you life experience.

作者简介

孟炎，托福(TOEFL)口语优良主讲师，结业于密苏里大学哥伦比亚分校，经济学硕士，SAS高档程序员。托福110分，GRE高分经过，2008年外研社全国大学生英语竞赛特等奖 (全省仅4人)，讲演竞赛优胜奖;全额奖学金获得者，曾在经济系任研讨生助教教授美国本科生经济学课程。

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