??1. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: Happiness comeswhen we help others rather than ourselves? Explain why. Please include detailsand examples in your explanation.

Personally, I totally agree with this idea and happiness does come when wegive others a helping hand. To begin with, sometimes, we can become very goodfriends after helping each other out, and by making friends with new people wewill be better connected. Actually, research shows that people are generallyhappier if they are better connected with others. Additionally, one can get astrong sense of achievement when helping others out, and people should becompassionate about others instead of just thinking about themselves, otherwisethey are too selfish, and selfish people are not happy.

2. Some people spend their vacation visiting just one place. Others preferto spend their vacation visiting several different places and spending a shorteramount o time in each. Which do you prefer and why.

Personally, I would like to travel around in different place instead ofjust staying in one place. I am the kind of person who likes new and excitingthings and exploration. If I stay in one place, I will get extremely bored, youknow, the scenery of one place is just repetitive, and there is nothing new. Ontop of that, by traveling around to different places, I can be exposed todifferent cultural elements. When traveling around different places, I got achance to talk to locals and get to know their culture, customs and way ofliving. By interacting with them I can broaden my horizon and have newperspective on things.

3. Is it better to grow up in a large family or a small family? Explainwhy. Please include details and examples in your explanation.

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ersonally, I prefer to live in a small family since you don’t have to dealwith too complicated relationships with lots of family members. For example, ifthere are lots of members in the family, one has to go the birthday party ofevery single person in the family and that can be really tiring. Also, a bigfamily is very crowded and noisy. It is very inconvenient because one might haveto wait for their turn to use the bathroom. You know, it is much easier for asmaller family to agree on big decision. Plus, in a small family, it is veryquiet and peaceful, one does not have a lot of triviality to deal with, and italso provides the kids a quiet environment to study.

4. Which of the following would you rather be? Lawyer, veterinarian orrestaurant owner. Explain your answer in details.

I would say I like to be a restaurant owner, doing business is like mychildhood dream, it is a great profession and it brings me great personalsatisfaction and monetary value, but I am aware that these reward does not comeeasily, cuz whenever you are making important decisions there are bothopportunities and risks. Frankly, I like the excitement of doing business, and Iam not the kind of person who just wants to live a risk-free life, I would say Ilike the thrill when you make a fortune or suffer a great loss. Apart from that,by operating a restaurant, I can provide people with nice food, and hopefully Ican make people happy, and they feel like as if they were dining in their ownhome.

　5. Some students like to choose university with a high reputation but noscholarship, others prefer to choose a university with scholarship but lessreputable. Which one do you like to choose?

Well, personally, I would prefer to study in a less well known universitywith a scholarship. To begin with, the university tuition can be reallyexpensive, and getting scholarship can help me to relieve my financial pressure.Consequently, I can concentrate on my study. Additionally, most of the time, oneneeds to be research assistant or teaching assistant upon receiving thescholarship. These teaching and research experience will be very helpful for myfuture, like when I plan to apply for a graduate school and even future jobs,and I will get a better to achieve my dreams in the future.

6. 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 me to do some hiking, likewalking on the trail, and do some fishing and BBQ.

7. When things at home such as furniture are broken, do you prefer to havethem repaired in a shop or fix them by yourself?

Well, personally I prefer to get service in a shop. To begin with, most ofthe time, it is pretty tough to fix broken furniture, and it can be really timeconsuming. Like, for me, I am a college student who is busy with all kinds ofassignments, like papers, presentations, and group projects and stuff, scarcelydo I have time to fix things, and frankly speaking sometime, it is impossiblefor me to fix something without the help of professionals, like when my carbreaks down, I don’t even know what goes wrong and I don’t have the tools, withwhich to fix that. So, based on these reasons, I will seek professionals forhelp.

　8. Between the following two places, where would you choose to live?

　　1. big and new place but far from your workplace and/or university

　　2. small and old place but near your workplace and/or university

Personally, I’d like to live in a bigger place that is far away from myworkplace. Actually, a bigger place far away from my workplace is more likely tobe in the suburb than otherwise, and I am the kind of person who like peace andtranquility. I want to get away from the noise and pollution, and I hate thehustle and bustle of the city. Working in the downtown areas all day along isboring, and I want to escape from these concrete jungle and live far away. Youknow since my workplace is located in the downtown areas, I just want to getaway from that place and find somewhere that is far away.

　9. Some people like to listen to audio books, others like to read paperbooks. Which do you prefer and why?

Well, personally, I prefer to read paper books. It is true that one canlisten to audio books practically everywhere. You can listen on the bus, or inbed before you fall asleep. However, I still prefer to read book myself since Ican get more involved when reading myself. What I am trying to say is that theperson who reads the audio book sometimes doesn’t tell the story the way that Ilike. I mean I might not like the tone of their voice, and sometimes I find thatI zone out and miss important parts of the book when I listen to audiobooks.

10. Some people think that the best way to learn is to attend lectures.Others think that it is better to learn on their own. Which do you prefer andwhy?

Well, personally, I prefer to attend lectures. Actually, studying alone canbe boring and I am the kind of person who likes to interact with others whenlearning. By attending lectures, I get a chance to hear multiple points of view,although some points might not be as thought-provoking, I can learn a lot ofstuff beyond the textbooks anyway, and understand how an idea works in real lifewhen other students share their personal experiences. Additionally, theprofessor who holds the lecture can make difficult and abstract concepts andideas easy to understand, one might not be able to understand some materialswhen studying alone.

11. Some people like surprise visits from their friends, others prefer tobe informed of such visits. Which one do you prefer?

Well, personally, I prefer to have scheduled visits from my friend. Tobegin with, surprise visits have its obvious drawback, and tht is I might not beavailable to offer my friend a warm reception simply because, as a collegestudent, sometimes, I am overwhelmed with all kinds of assignment, likepresentations, group projects and stuff. On the other hand, I can get fullyprepared for my friend if he or she gives me notice ahead of time. I likearrange the room and board, and even we can make a plan to travel together, andthus I can guarantee that my friend will enjoy his or her stay at my place.

12. Science club, hiking club, which one are you interested in?

Personally, I would like to choose to join the science club. To begin with,I bet there will be field trip to research centers and science labs. By going tothe lab, I got a chance to use the lab equipment and apply theory in practice.It is very helpful for me to understand some theories since most of the time thethings we learn in classrooms are very theoretical, and hard to understand.Also, by doing activities in the lab, I can be more creative and imaginative.Possibly, We can come up with lots of idea with regard of the theories, and makecontribution to the technological advancement, and then it might be applied inthe real world, thus benefits the entire human race.

13. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: protecting theenvironment is just as important as developing the economy?

Personally, I don’t agree with that. Instead, I think protecting theenvironment is more important than developing the economy. Recently, there arerampant environment related diseases, like the lung problems caused by the hazeand fog in big cities, problems. Plus, the global warming, pollution, andextinction are running wild on earth too. Also, we have to think of the futureof our lives and the lives of the next generation. Actually, if the economyfalls, there is still a big chance for it to pick up. However, if we don’tprotect the environment, and cherish the mother earth, it will be goneforever.

　14. 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.

15. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Children shouldbe required to help with household tasks as long as they grow old enough to doso. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Personally, I definitely think that children should do household tasks assoon as they are old enough. Lots of important qualities can be developedthrough such activities as doing housework. Children will learn to be aresponsible person, and that is a like cornerstone for them to become a betterperson. On top of that, children will get a sense of achievement when competingthe house chores, and their parents might even give them some reward like buythem toys or offer them some pocket money. Through such activities, childrenwill be very determined and motivated when they do bigger projects in theiradulthood and be successful.

16. School should require all students to have their own laptops. Usespecific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Personally, I think students should be required to own laptops. To beginwith, students might need to write papers, and they can find reference on theinternet easily, cuz they can just type the key words in the search engine, andthe next moment they know, the answer shows up on the screen, and they basicallycan find reference on every topic, like technology, history, and evenpsychology. Also, they need to use lots of software to finish some assignmentsand projects, so the use of computer is inevitable. For example, I am aneconomics major, and I need to use statistical software to analyze data,obviously, I cannot do that without the computer.

　17. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? We learn morefrom failure than success. Use specific reasons and examples to support youranswer.

Personally, I couldn’t agree more with this statement, indeed, the bestlesson one can learn is through failure. Actually, time and experience are thebest teacher, and growth can only be achieved when you fail and after somebarriers or setbacks in life, one has to analyze the real cause and avoid therisk of making the same mistake again. Albert Einstein once said, “Anyone whohas never failed has never tried anything new.” One can only be a better personand make better judgments by learning from every single experience that we havebeen exposed to, otherwise, we would be the same person as we wereyesterday.

18. Agree or disagree: Life is better now than the past. Use specificreasons and examples to support your answer.

Personally, I cannot agree more with that. To begin with, advancedtechnology has made lots of impossible things possible, like now it takes onlyless than one hour to travel over 300 miles by express train. In the past, itmight take you a whole day. Now, with the express train, we can save lots ofvaluable time. Plus, with increasing income, more people have access tonutritional food, like, salmon, tuna, shrimp and stuff like that. They are highin protein, low in carbs.

　19. Do you like to buy new books or used books. Use specific reasons andexamples to support your answer.

I would say I prefer buying used books. As a college students, professorssometimes require students to buy textbooks, and most of the time, the textbookscan be really expensive, you might easily spend over $100 on a single book. Thatis a lot for a college kid. Additionally, most of the time used books are notthat crappy, you can use it, and take notes on it and highlight the importantpart, it has no impact on your study at all. So based on these reasons, I findit more reasonable to buy used books at a cheaper price.

　20. Agree or disagree: Zoos are useful than harmful to animals.

Personally, I couldn’t agree more that zoos help to protect animals ratherthan harm them. To begin with, some animals might live in really harshenvironment, like the Arctic region, Sahara deserts, and even in extremely dryareas. However, the zoo can be a very good place to shelter such animals, andthey can live in a clean and comfortable environment with abundant food to feedthemselves. Additionally, by keeping animals in the zoos, citizens, especiallythe younger generation will get a chance to closely observe them, thus they willknow the animals better, hopefully, this can raise their awareness to protectendangered species.

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

Personally, I prefer to live alone. Actually, I am a 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 be familiar with. Actually, I am highlyefficient when I do things without the disturbance of others, like when I studyI feel more comfortable when nobody is around me. Plus, someone you are livingwith might have totally different habits and schedule when it comes to when tostudy or sleep or even watch TV. It would be really disruptive when one wants tostudy while the other prefers to watch TV.

22. Some people think that it’s more important to spend time with families,others think they should focus on work and study. Which do you prefer?

Personally, I think families are more important than work and study. Tobegin with, the people who really care about you most are your family members,your parents, sisters, and brothers, and the family members are the first grouppeople you deal with; and when you are depressed or suffering from setbacks inlife, it is your family who supports you. Lots of times, it is the encouragementand love from one’s family that makes someone stronger in life. The people whoare not be able to stay with their parents when they got sick only regret thatthey should have spent more time with them, instead of closing business dealsand stuff.

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114，GRE高分经过(1330),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。听音频答案和TPO归纳口语答案请搜喜马拉雅主播:托福口语

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