托福TPO2口语
1.Choose a place you go to often that is important to you and explain why it is important.（importance）
答案
The zoo is a place I go to often that is important to me for a couple of reasons. First of all, I love to learn about animals and nature. I find all the animals fascinating to look at, and I get to learn something new about them each time I visit the zoo. There are these tags in front of all the display about the animal inside, I like the fact that I can study the animals while being able to look at them up close. Itʼs way better than reading about them from a text book. Second, I like to take pictures of the animals. If you pay attention you can find all kinds of expressions on their face. For example, monkeys are almost as expressive as we are. I took many good pictures of monkeys and will never get tired of taking more.
2.Some college students choose to take courses in a variety of subject areas in order to get a broad education. Others choose to focus on a single subject area in order to have a deeper understanding of that area. Which approach to course selection do you think is better for students and why?
答案
I believe choosing subjects from different fields is the way to go. First of all, it will broaden a student’s horizon and knowledge base. Not only I get to learn different things from variety of courses, most importantly, I can gain other perspectives in doing so. I will be able to think differently and can use many approaches toward the same problem. Second, it’s interesting to take courses from other fields. I get to meet a lot of students from other majors and talk to them. It’s great when I can have many types of friends. It would be very boring if I’m surrounded only by the people in my major all the time.
3.The man expresses his opinion of the university’s plan to eliminate the bus service. State his opinion and explain the reasons he gives for holding that opinion.
阅读材料
The university has decided to discontinue its free bus service for students. The reason given for this decision is that few students ride the buses and the buses are expensive to operate. Currently, the buses run from the center of campus past university buildings and through some of the neighborhoods surrounding the campus. The money saved by eliminating the bus service will be used to expand the overcrowded student parking lots.
对话
Man
I don’t like the university’s plan.
Woman
Really? I’ve ridden those buses, and sometimes there were only a few people on the bus. It did seem like kind of a waste.
Man
I see your point. But I think the problem is the route’s out-of-date. It only goes through the neighborhoods that’ve gotten too expensive for students to live in. It’s ridiculous that they haven’t already changed the route - you know, so it goes where most off-campus students live now. I bet if they did that, they’d get plenty of students riding those buses.
Woman
Well, at least they’re adding more parking. It’s gotten really tough to find a space.
Man
That’s the other part I don’t like, actually. Cutting back the bus service and adding parking’s just gonna encourage more students to drive on campus. And that’ll just add to the noise around campus and create more traffic…and that’ll increase the need for more parking spaces.
Woman
Yeah, I guess I can see your point. Maybe it would be better if more students used the buses instead of driving.
Man
Right. And the university should make it easier to do that, not harder.
答案
The university is planning to eliminate its free bus service, because not many students use it and the school can use the money saved to build more parking lots. In the conversation, the man disagrees with the university’s plan. First of all, he thinks the reason that few students take the bus is because the route is out-of-date, it only goes through the areas that have gone too expensive for students to live. Instead of eliminating the bus service, the university should change the bus route to where more students live. Second, he thinks that more student will drive if the university used the saved money to build more parking lots, and that will create more traffic problem and increase the noise level on campus.
4.Explain how the examples of tying shoes and learning to type demonstrate the principle of audience effects.
阅读材料
People deal with each other every day. This interaction is at the heart of social life. The study of social interaction is concerned with the influence people have over one another’s behavior. People take each other into account in their daily behavior and in fact, the very presence of others can affect behavior. For example, one principle of social interaction, audience effects, suggests that individuals’ work is affected by their knowledge that they are visible to others, that the presence of others tends to alter the way people behave or perform an activity.
原文
Professor
OK, so we said that the way we interact with others has an impact on our behavior. In fact, there’s some interesting research to suggest that in one type of interaction - when we’re being observed specifically, when we know we’re being watched as we perform some activity - we tend to increase the speed at which we perform that activity.
In one study, college students were asked to each put on a pair of shoes-shoes with laces they would have to tie. Now one group of students was told that they would be observed. The second group, however, didn’t know they were being observed. The students who were aware that they were being watched actually tied their shoes much faster than the students who thought they were alone. Other studies confirm the same is true even when we’re learning new activities.
Let’s say someone is learning a new task - for example, learning how to type. When they’re conscious of being observed, they’ll likely begin typing at a much faster rate than they would if they were alone. But, and this is interesting, the study also showed that certain common behavior - things people typically do, like…making mistakes when you’re learning something new that behavior pattern will also increase. So in other words, when we’re learning to type, and we know we’re being watched, we’ll type faster but we’ll also make more mistakes.
答案
The professor talks about audience effect which means people would perform differently when they know they are being watched. In the first example, two groups of students were asked to put on some shoes, while the first group knew they were being watched, the other group didn’t. The result shows that the first group put on the shoes faster than the second group. The same thing happens when people learn a new activity. When we learn how to type, and know that we are being observed, we would type faster, but we will also make more mistakes.
5.The speakers discuss two possible solutions to the woman’s problem. Describe the problem and the two solutions. Then explain what you think the woman should do and why.
Man
Mary, I’m so glad I ran into you.
Woman
Oh hello, Professor Jensen.
Man
Listen, I know it’s short notice…and maybe you’ve already made plans for spring break… but…one of my students just dropped out of the field trip to the Smithson River Caves. You’re next on the waiting list, so now there’s room for you to come along.
Woman
You’re kidding! [disappointed] I didn’t think there was a chance… and…well, it’s a three-day trip, right? I agreed to spend next week helping Professor Clark set up the new museum exhibition. I think she’s really counting on me.
Man
Yeah, three days. But you know… if you’d rather come on the field trip, why not speak with her and see if she has anyone to replace you?
Woman
Yeah, I’d hate to miss out on the caves. I’ll definitely ask Professor Clark if there’s someone else who could help her.
Man
You know… we don’t leave until Wednesday. If you still have to help out, any chance you could get the museum setup done before then?
Woman
Oh yeah… not until Wednesday… so then yeah… maybe that’s possible too.
答案
The woman’s problem is that she wants to go to the field trip but she’s already promised another professor to help set up the museum exhibition. There are two possible solutions, the first is to speak with the other professor and find a replacement, the second solution is that she can set up the museum exhibition first, and then go to the field trip. I think the second solution is better. because first of all, she gets to do both activities, so she can learn more in the process and gain more experiences. And also, it’d be better if she can keep her promise, because the other professor is counting on her.
6.Using points and examples from the talk, explain the two definitions of money presented by the professor.
Professor
So, let’s talk about money. What is money? Well, typically people think of coins and paper “bills” as money… but that’s using a somewhat narrow definition of the term.
A broad definition is this: [slowly] money is anything that people can use to make purchases with. Since many things can be used to make purchases, money can have many different forms. Certainly, coins and bills are one form of money. People exchange goods and services for coins or paper bills, and they use this money… these bills…to obtain other goods and services. For example, you might give a taxi driver five dollars to purchase a ride in his taxi. And he in turn gives the five dollars to a farmer to buy some vegetables. But, as I said, coins and bills aren’t the only form of money under this broad definition. Some societies make use of a barter system. Basically, in a barter system people exchange goods and services directly for other goods and services. The taxi driver, for example, might give a ride to a farmer in exchange for some vegetables. Since the vegetables are used to pay for a service, by our broad definition the vegetables are used in barter as a form of money.
Now, as I mentioned, there’s also a second… a narrower definition of money. In the United States only coins and bills are legal tender - meaning that by law, a seller must accept them as payment. The taxi driver must accept coins or bills as payment for a taxi ride. OK? But in the U.S., the taxi driver is not required to accept vegetables in exchange for a ride. So a narrower definition of money might be whatever is legal tender in a society, whatever has to be accepted as payment.
答案
In this lecture, the professor talks about the two definitions of money. The first is broad definition which is anything that people can use to make purchases with. For example, a taxi drive earns five dollars for a taxi ride, he can then use the five dollars to buy some vegetable. While in a barter system, the driver can except vegetable for payment too. The second is narrower definition of money, which is the only legal tender to be accepted in a society. Take the same taxi driver for example, in the United States, only coins and bills are legal tender, so he must except paper bills or coins but vegetable as payment.
