托福iBT考试口语真题

 

　　Directions:

　　The Speaking section of the TOEFL iBT test will last approximately 20 minutes. During the test, you will answer 6 speaking questions. Two of the questions ask about familiar topics. Four questions ask you about short conversations, lectures, and reading passages. You may take notes as you listen to the conversations and lectures. You should answer all of the questions as completely as possible in the time allowed. The preparation time begins immediately after you hear the question. On the actual exam, you will be told when to begin to prepare and when to begin speaking.

　　The questions and the reading passages are printed in this test book. The time you will have to prepare your response and to speak is printed below each question. At the end of each test, you’ll find scripts for the audio tracks and sample spoken responses for each question. To have a better practice, you may need a recording device that you can play back to listen to your response.

　　托福iBT考试口语真题

　　1. You will now be asked a question about a familiar topic. After you hear the question, you will have 15 seconds to prepare your response and 45 seconds to speak.

　　Is it good or bad to work a year before studying at university? Please include specific details in your explanation.

　　Preparation Time: 15 Seconds

　　Response Time: 45 Seconds

　　2. You will now be asked a question about a familiar topic. After you hear the question, you will have 15 seconds to prepare your response and 45 seconds to speak.

　　Do you prefer to write a long essay or give a speech in front of class for an assignment? Include reasons and details in your explanation.

　　Preparation Time: 15 Seconds

　　Response Time: 45 Seconds

　　3. You will now read a short passage and then listen to a talk on the same topic. You will then be asked a question about them. After you hear the question, you will have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

　　Reading Time: 45 Seconds

　　Ride-Sharing Program

　　After receiving several suggestions from students about the transportation to school, we have decided to organize a school ride-sharing program, in order to provide students living in the same area or community with a ride to school as a means of shared transportation. Moreover, we believe carpooling will be good for students to save money from the rising cost of gas and bus fares. Please note that this program is also an excellent means to protect the environment by reducing a great deal of pollution released from car emissions.

　　Now hear a conversation about the same topic.

　　The woman expresses her opinion of the school policy to offer ride-sharing program. State her opinion and explain the reasons she gives for holding that opinion.

　　Preparation Time: 30 Seconds

　　Response Time: 60 Seconds

　　4. You will now read a short passage and then listen to a talk on the same topic. You will then be asked a question about them. After you hear the question, you will have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

　　Reading Time: 45 Seconds

　　Signaling

　　In economics, signaling is an approach. That is, companies use third parties to credibly convey some positive information about their products to consumers who may not be sensitive to the difference between good and bad product quality. More precisely, producers or sellers of good-quality products can distinguish themselves from that of bad-quality ones by offering high-price goods or services. However, consumers are not capable of telling the difference and not likely to purchase something expensive either. Therefore, having a third party to make objective judgments such as conducting experiments is essential to guide consumers to make purchasing decisions for high-quality products.

　　Now hear a talk on the same subject.

　　The professor talks about an example in the lecture. Explain how the example demonstrates the concept of signaling in the reading.

　　Preparation Time: 30 Seconds

　　Response Time: 60 Seconds

　　5. You will now listen to a conversation. You will then be asked a question about it. After you hear the question, you will have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

　　The two people in the conversation are discussing two possible solutions to the man’s problem. Describe the problem and the two solutions. Then state which of the two solutions you prefer and explain why.

　　Preparation Time: 20 Seconds

　　Response Time: 60 Seconds

　　6. You will now listen to part of a lecture. You will then be asked a question about it. After you hear the question, you will have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.

　　Using points and examples from the lecture, explain the two features species use to survive in mountain environment.

　　Preparation Time: 20 Seconds

　　Response Time: 60 Seconds

　　Solution

　　Question 1

　　Is it good or bad to work a year before studying at university? Please include specific details in your explanation.

　　Note (笔记)

　　topic work b4 university

　　reason 1 grow up

　　↑independence

　　↑competition…☆ (important)→future

　　reason 2 ↑$

　　buy…, but × run out of budget

　　economic burdens ← parents

　　Response (参考答案)

　　topic Personally, I think students should have work experience before attending college.

　　reason 1 One reason is that taking part-time jobs can help students grow up from children into adults, because this work experience can definitely allow them to cultivate independence among young people and help prepare them for the competiveness of the work place, which is important for students in the future.

　　reason 2 Furthermore, working helps build up students’ pockets. With the money earned, they can buy whatever they want, and also learn how to budget their money correctly. Meanwhile, they are able to relieve the economic burdens on their parents.

　　conclusion For these reasons, I would definitely recommend that all students undertake work experience before college.

　　Question 2

　　Do you prefer to write a long essay or give a speech in front of class for an assignment? Include reasons and details in your explanation.

　　Note (笔记)

　　topic long essay√

　　reason 1 stu→strong writing skills

　　∴ need practice

　　essay → exam

　　reason 2 essay → understanding, ∵↑ time… research, think, better explain their ideas

　　Response (参考答案)

　　topic Well, in my opinion, I would definitely prefer to write long essays.

　　reason 1 One thing is that students need to develop the strong writing skills. They go to school mainly to learn reading and writing, so they need a lot of practice. Besides, examinations require a lot of writing, so writing papers is a kind of good preparation.

　　reason 2 Another reason is that, I think writing long essays is a better way to show students’ understanding of the materials or assigned topics, because writing assignments gives students more time to do research, to think deeply and thus better explain their ideas.

　　conclusion Therefore, I believe writing papers is good for students for the two reasons listed above.

　　Question 3

　　Conversation

　　M: Hello, dear, have you heard of the new policy about ride-sharing? We have to organize car-pools for transportation.

　　W: Well, I support this new policy. Maybe it can be very helpful to some extent.

　　M: Can you explain it a little bit? I don’t get it.

　　W: Have you noticed that ride-sharing is one of the most common and cost effective alternatives for students’ transport? I mean, the cost of sharing a ride is cheaper than a taxi or other means of transportation, because the cost will be divided among members. The program also helps lower the costs of gasoline or car operation since car-pooling needs few vehicles to transport students back and forth everyday. Isn’t it great?

　　M: Hmm, I can see your point. But other than costs, what else is it good for?

　　W: Well, it helps protect our environment because fewer cars on the road also means less air pollution, including carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.

　　M: I haven’t thought of that! Your words make a lot of sense to me.

　　Note (笔记)

　　reading uni → car share

　　∵help ↓ $ & protect environment

　　opinion w√

　　reason 1 cheaper ∵cost be divided among members

　　save money

　　reason 2 helps protect environment

　　needs ↓ vehicles to transport, so ↓CO2 →climate change

　　Response (参考答案)

　　reading The university has planed to make students living close to each other ride to school by sharing their cars. The school believes the ride-sharing program can help students save money as well as protect the environment by reducing pollution from car emissions.

　　opinion The woman likes this policy for two reasons.

　　reason 1 Her first reason is that ride-sharing is cheaper than any other means of transportation, because the cost of gasoline and car operation will be distributed among members of car-pooling. Since the cost is much less than traveling by taxi, bus, or private vehciles, students are able to save their money.

　　reason 2 In the second place, she strongly supports this policy because it helps protect the environment. She says that the program needs fewer vehicles to transport students back and forth everyday, thus emitting less carbon dioxide which contributes to climate change.

　　Question 4

　　Lecture

　　W: Morning everybody, according to your text, signaling, more precisely in economics, is the idea that one party by using a third party credibly conveys some information about itself to another party. Let me give you an example about my friend who owns a jewelry store. A big problem he had recently was that people would come into his store, look around, and then run off without making a purchase. This is because jewelry is a big investment, and customers really have no idea if the jewelry is indeed real.

　　Then my friend found a jewelry expert who placed some expensive jewels in fire to prove that they were real. My friend used this jewelry expert as a signaler, that is, he introduced a third party to judge the quality of his jewelry through the experiments.

　　The end result was that my friend’s jewels were indeed real. He hung the results as an advertisement in his front window. Afterwards something spectacular happened soon after: the same customers who came in and just looked around now had the confidence in the jewels and made the purchases.

　　Note (笔记)

　　topic (reading) signaling: companies→consumers→products ← third parties

　　example his friends →jewelry store, expensive

　　∴ consumers look, × buy

　　coz (=because) consumers × dif btw real & fake

　　expert → prove real

　　∴ consumers → purchase → products

　　Response (参考答案)

　　topic (reading) The lecture is about signaling which refers to an approach companies use to guide the consumers to purchase their products by introducing third parties. The professor explains this concept by giving an example in his lecture.

　　example The professor said that her friends owned a jewelry store, in which the gold and diamonds were real but very expensive. Therefore, many consumers merely looked at the products rather than making actual purchases. The high price might be one reason, but more importantly, many consumers couldn’t tell the difference between real and fake products. Then her friend asked an expert to prove the quality of jewels by putting them on fire. Later, the jewelry was verified to be real, and consumers were confident enough to purchase the expensive products.

　　Question 5

　　Conversation

　　W: Hey, Mark. You look worried, I can tell by the look on your face. What’s wrong?

　　M: Well, this is tough. I’ve just been informed that my audition time for the play Hamlet has been changed from next week to tomorrow. The worst thing is that I’ve promised my roommate I would help tutor him for his physics test tonight, leaving me no time to prepare for the audition.

　　W: Ouch!! Sounds like you have almost no time. What’s your plan?

　　M: I don’t know. I really need to prepare for my audition tonight.

　　W: Hmm…maybe you could ask someone else to help your roommate out. I am sure your roommate will understand.

　　M: No, I can’t just renege on my promise by not showing up. I have promised him to help him prepare for his test. I worry he won’t be happy.

　　W: Ah, I see. Well, then I guess you could just help him first, and then prepare your audition. How’s that?

　　M: Right, but then I might not have enough time to do all the preparation for the audition next day.

　　W: Hmmm…well, my friend, I don’t know what to tell you.

　　Note (笔记)

　　problem m: audition→the Hamlet → tomorrow

　　but tutor → physics test tonight, tm (=time) conflict

　　solutions w: 1. sb. else →tutor

　　  2. tutor 1st, then prepare audition

　　best solution 1st √

　　reasons tutoring = ↑tm →audition

　　too exh (=exhausted) to do well

　　∴sb. else √

　　Response (参考答案)

　　problem The man is faced with a problem: his audition for the stage play Hamlet has been rescheduled to tomorrow. But he has to tutor his roommate for a physics test tonight, which leaves him no time to prepare for the audition the next day.

　　solutions The woman offers him two solutions: he could ask someone else to help tutor his roommate or he could prepare for his audition right after he finishes tutoring his roommate.

　　best solution I think the man should take the first option,

　　reasons because tutoring his roommate will consume a lot of time which he could be spending preparing for his audition tomorrow. Although he can help his roommate for the physics test first and then practice for his audition, he wouldn’t have enough hours to get proper sleep, making him too exhausted to perform well during the audition. Therefore, I think asking somebody else to tutor his roommate is the best way to cope with his problem.

　　Question 6

　　Lecture

　　W: Mountains are as beautiful as they are deadly. The innumerous dangers, if not taken seriously can either kill us or cause us to be badly injured. These dangers include steep inclines, ice, snow, and bone chilling winds. However, some species of animals can live on mountain ranges because they have developed and formed two features, allowing them to survive in the harsh mountain environment over thousands of years.

　　A strong muscle structure is one significant feature of species like Mountain goats. They have developed to adapt to the mountain environment over time. A strong muscular system enables them to climb at seemingly impossible angles and jump nimbly from ledge to ledge when they are searching or foraging food in mountain areas.

　　As we all know, mountain roads or rocks are extremely steep and slippery with snow, making animals easy to fail. Therefore, special feet are another important feature that species dwelling in the area acquire. The Bighorn sheep have become well adapted to living on slippery and rocky cliffs. Their hoofs or feet have special pads with hard sharp edges surrounding a soft inner area which provide the animals with extra traction thus preventing them from skidding on the rocks. Therefore, the Bighorn sheep can get a better grip while climbing.

　　Note (笔记)

　　topic 2 features： animals survive in Mt. (=mountain )

　　(Mt.… dangerous, steep, rocky, snowy)

　　example 1 1st: strong muscle→ e.g. Mt. goats climb × jump × fail→ food in Mt. snow …rocky cliffs

　　example 2 2nd: special feet→ e.g. Bighorn sheep→hoofs with special pads & sharp edges→stand firmly & × skid

　　Response (参考答案)

　　topic In the lecture, the professor talks about two features that animals living in mountain area need to have.

　　当然同学们也可以考虑这样开头：

　　According to the lecture, mountain areas are dangerous for living creatures, because they are steep, rocky, and snowy. Therefore, mountain animals have formed two features to adapt to the harsh environment.

　　example 1 The first feature is a strong muscle structure. For example, mountain goats have a unique and strong muscle structure which helps them climb and jump without falling down when they search for food in mountain areas where a lot of snow covered rocky cliffs.

　　example 2 Then professor mentions another feature, the special feet. For example, Bighorn sheep have developed hoofs with special pads and sharp edges in order to keep them standing firmly and form skidding on the rocks when they are moving on slippery cliffs.