Authentic Speaking Part 2 Questions

you and other people did together.Describe an occasion when you co-operated with others. Describe a positive change in your life.

Describe something you succeeded in doing/you hope you can be successful in/you and other people did together.Describe an occasion when you co-operated with others. Describe a positive change in your life.

I remembered my deskmate and I made a presentation about the introduction of Chinese spring festival back in high school. It was quite an unforgettable part of my school life.

Mr. Liu, my oral English teacher, who comes from Beijing , chose my deskmate and I to introduce some facts about the celebration of spring festival. I felt quite excited about this challenge. So did my deskmate. My deskmate wrote a few short paragrahs about the celebration, and I downloaded some pictures about some typical symbols people could see or use during spring festival, like firecrackers[‘fa ə,krækə], spring couplets[‘k pl t], red envelopes[‘envələup] and stuff. A few days later, we made the presentation in front of the whole class. The presentation we made was not bad except a few grammatical[grə’mæt kəl] errors that Mr. liu pointed out. He said we could have done better if we hadn’t been so nervous.

I really think making a presentation was not very difficult. What I found most difficult was speaking in front of a lot people. But, that experience was kind of helpful for me. I’ve gained much confidence in public speaking ever since then.

AUTHENTIC SPEAKING Describe a sports game / match / competition you watched. Describe something that you wish to succeed in.

Describe a sports game / match / competition you watched. Describe something that you wish to succeed in.

A sport event I’d like to talk about is a badminton match. It was held in last summer break in my community. All the residents[‘rezidənt] in the community were welcomed to participate in this match.

The game was held in the badminton court near a park in my neighborhood. Many people came to support their friends and family, so it was fairly crowded on site[sait].

After the first two rounds, about 25 contestants were eliminated and only 6 contestants made it to the final, including me fortunately. The competition was getting fiercer and fiercer because the other 5 players were all skillful and competitive.

In the end, I was defeated by the runner-up, which means I only got the third place. It was a pity that I didn’t win the first prize. But it was alright because I enjoyed it a lot. I wish there would be another badminton race this year.

The winner was a badminton coach, and funnily enough, it turned out that he and I studied in the same college when we had a little chat after the match.

AUTHENTIC SPEAKING Describe an interesting news story in a newspaper/ on TV.

Describe an interesting news story in a newspaper/ on TV.

Several days ago while I was reading a newspaper, I read an interesting news saying an IBM computer nicknamed “watson[‘w tsn]” defeated two champion[‘t æmpjən] contestants[kən’testənt] on a prime-time American quiz show entitled[in’taitl] “Jeopardy[‘d epədi:]”.

The competition was publicized as a “men versus machine” contest.

Over three special editions of the show, Watson beat his human opponents with ease.

One of the men it defeated even holds the Jeopardy record of 74 straight[streit] wins.

After I read more coverage, I knew that Watson is a giant piece of hardware which is able to understand the question and try to match it against huge amounts of information it has in a split-second and then very quickly assesses how good a match it thinks it has.

I think this is an interesting news because it has proved that human beings are not always smarter than their inventions.

I guess nobody would disagree with me that Watson, the computer really is an IT genius and a breakthrough in computing.

Besides, I do believe it was also great publicity for IBM.

AUTHENTIC SPEAKING Describe a book you enjoyed as a child (such as a storybook).Describe your favorite book.

Describe a book you enjoyed as a child (such as a storybook).Describe your favorite book.

The story I wanna talk about is “the boy who cries Wolf[wulf]”. A naughty boy has many sheep. He looks after them every day. He feels boring and lonely and suddenly thinks out of an idea to play a trick with the people in the village. The boy shouts[ aut] loudly, “Help, help, a big wolf’s coming.” Once the villagers hear the shouting, they go quickly to rescue [‘reskju:] the boy with sticks[stik] and swords[s :d].

However, when they arrive, they find out that the boy was telling a lie and then they go back to village annoyingly. A few minutes later, the boy is crying for wolf again. Some kind-hearted villagers come again but still find nothing and go back in anger. The following day, when a wolf is actually coming, nobody responds to the boy’s shouting.

Eventually, all the sheep of the boy are eaten by the wolf. From this story, I understand that to be honest is the most important character that everybody should have. Once you tell a lie, nobody will trust you anymore. If you want to gain trust and credit from others, you shall never deceive [di’si:v] them in the first place. Otherwise, no one will respect you.

AUTHENTIC SPEAKING Describe your favorite website.

Describe your favorite website.

I am going to describe the social networking site, called MicroBlog. You know, MicroBlog is really very popular in China now, and some people even get addicted to it. People can chat each other and post their lastest information or photos on to this website. Besides, they can pay close attention to their favorite celebrities. I also like to visit this website, because I can keep contact with my friends through it.

However, posting your personal details onto this kind of social networking sites can bring some dangers too. When someone takes your personal information and pretend to be you, you may get a huge trouble. There is much coverage from the press that some adults post false information onto MicroBlog in order to meet some school age children. I suppose some censorship should be implemented to deal with this current issue.

AUTHENTIC SPEAKING Describe an educational TV program.Describe something you’ll do this weekend.

Describe an educational TV program.Describe something you’ll do this weekend.

Ok, I want to talk about one of the most famous quiz show, called <who want to be the millionaire>, which I used to watch regularly with my family every Saturday night. The show lasts for 2 hours in each episode[‘episəud]. It manages to create such a stimulating atmosphere that almost every family would always sit in front of TV suggesting different answers when the game is on. I remember how excited my parents were when we watched it.

When luckily got chosen to join the show, the candidate[‘kændidit] sits face to face with the hostess who raises[reiz] questions about every aspect[‘æspekt] of life, from simple life wisdom[‘wizdəm] that almost everybody knows to those complicated questions related to professional academic subjects.

If the candidate is able to answer all the questions correctly, he or she can consequently get one million as the final prize. In order to get the prize, I think there would be a lot to be done. Actually, the more knowledge you know or try to learn, the more likely you’re going to win.

I’d really like to be a competitor in < who want to be the millionaire >, not just because I would have a chance to win prizes, but also because the show would encourage me to explore this world on everything around us. In other words, the show’s educational value shouldn’t be underestimated.

In addition to this, this is a show produced for all the family to watch, especially the ones with children, for spending time together watching this type of show could deeply enhance the family tie.

AUTHENTIC SPEAKING Describe a song you heard when you were a child.

Describe a song you heard when you were a child.

The song I wanna talk about is the national anthem [‘ænθəm] of China, called < March of the Volunteers>. The song was originally the theme song for a film called “Sons and Daughters of the Storm”, which describes China under the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. It is the song which I heard the most in my childhood. Every Monday in the primary school, all the students and teachers needed to gather in the playground and sing this song loudly with the raising of the national flag. This is really an inspiring song which reminds us with the important of our national spirit.

When I learned the < March of the Volunteers> in the first time, I actually couldn’t understand the deeper meaning of this song. However, after I studied the history of the foundation of China, I figured out that this song in fact contains the story of people’s struggle. In it, some intellectuals overcome their indecisiveness and rush to the battlefront of the anti-Japanese resistance.

AUTHENTIC SPEAKING Describe a song you often listen to.

Describe a song you often listen to.

I would like to talk about a famous English song, called <You Are Not Alone>. It was recommended by my best friend, when I entered the high school. As soon as I heard this song, I like it very much.

“You Are Not Alone”, released in August 1995, is the second single from Michael Jackson’s album HIStory. The song was written by R. Kelly[‘keli] and produced by Kelly and Jackson. Kelly wrote the song after the loss of close people in his life. This song is so beautiful and so sad.

On listening to ‘You Are Not Alone’, one wonders how many times Michael tried to tell himself, during his most desperate and anguished[‘æŋɡwi ] times, that he did have support in his life, from a higher power, or even friends and family, whether he actually believed it or not.

Now this song always makes me want to cry because it is called, “You Are Not Alone” and MJ is gone. You know what it means? This is the best song he ever made and I love all his other songs.

AUTHENTIC SPEAKING Describe your favorite photo.

Describe your favorite photo.

I want to describe the photo which was taken after the first badminton match in my college. You know, I was really into badminton when I studied in my university. So I jointed the badminton club as soon as I entered the school. In order to help the freshmen get along well with each other, the chairman decided to hold a badminton match in the college court. We really enjoy this match, because it did serve its original purpose. All the members play the game in a friendly atmosphere and we kept contact after the match. You know, I also won the third place and met one of my best friends in this match. When I look at this photo, each time, it helps me to recall the precious period in this club. I would never forget the moment when we stayed together. Even though we had graduated from the university, we still often talk together in the internet.

AUTHENTIC SPEAKING Describe an ad that helped you buy something.

Describe an ad that helped you buy something.

The advertisement[əd’və:tismənt] I saw grabbed my attention immediately. It actually contained two photos that ran[ræn] in a magazine promoting a restaurant called Happy Cantina[kæn’ti:nə].

The pictures showed a scene in a kitchen where different type of vegetables, like carrots, onions[‘ njən] and peppers[‘pepə], were happily preparing themselves to be cooked. The carrots were chopping each other on the cutting board; the onions[‘ njən] were grating[gre t] themselves on the grater. The purpose of the advertisement was to indicate that all the food served at HAPPY Cantina[kæn’ti:nə] is fresh.

I felt it was probably one of the best advertisements I have even seen. It was full of humour, imagination and creativity. Of course, I was curious to find out if the food was actually as fresh as they indicated in the advertisement, so I went to the restaurant and ended up having a fantastic and tasty dinner. What a great advertisement, it served its purpose[‘pə:pəs] and got me to go to the restaurant.