CRACK TOEFL iBT (Speaking) – Unit One
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Some people like to watch the news on television. Other people prefer to read the news in a newspaper. Still others use their computers to get the news. How do you prefer to be informed about the news and why? Use specific reasons and examples to support your response.
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Sample response:
I like to get informed about the news from varied sources depending on the occasion and circumstances. When I’m very tired and there’s no energy left, I like to relax, lay back and watch TV. Then not fully alert and conscious, I follow the news. Actually, when I’m eating dinner or I’m tired but I don’t feel like sleeping, I watch the TV news. Even if I don’t get the words, I follow the pictures and I scan the news to get a rough idea about what’s going on around me!
I sometimes feel like reading a newspaper particularly when I have some idle time on the plane or at the airport especially if I’m stuck there because of a long delay. I read some items selectively and I’m satisfied to some extent that I’m not assaulted by unwanted and undesirable news imposed on me.
I sometimes like reading newspapers because they help me not forget the words and that my passive knowledge of vocabulary turn to be active and not dormant. However, if I really want to follow the news and I have access to the Internet, then I can browse different sources. Then I make cross-comparisons to push away biased news and find out the real news not eclipsed or distorted by the mass media. Getting news via the net is my ultimate choice.
Todd: Tennessee!
Tenn: Yes!
Todd: We're gonna talk about sports.
Tenn: OK. I'm not big on sports, but.
Todd: OK, well, that's OK. So you, you don't like sports.
Tenn: Well, I like sports but I'm just not an avid, uh, sports watcher. You know I would usually rather watch a movie or some kind of history program.
Todd: Oh, OK. So you're into history.
Tenn: Oh, yes!
Todd: OK. What kind of history?
Tenn: That's a kind of a difficult question. I would say, ah, interested, primarily I interested in ancient and mideval but I also like studying the history of the countries that I have visited it makes it more interesting when I go sight-seeing.
Todd: OK. What countries have you visited?
Tenn: I've been to 26 countries.
Todd: Really!
Tenn: Yeah!
Todd: Oh, OK. Yeah, you can't name them all.
Tenn: The big ones I would say, I've been over a good bit of Europe, ah, Mexico, Peru, I spent almost a year in Egypt and I went to Isreal, Jordan, and now I'm here in Japan. I've been here in Japan for a year and a half. And while I have been here, I visited Korea for about a week.
Todd: OK. Wow. That's a lot so did you do the Pyramids in Egypt?
Tenn: Oh, yes. Actually, I climbed the pyramids.
Todd: Oh, really. Nice. What's it like on the top?
Tenn: Very, very interesting. You can see, ah, it was during the summer so the visibility was rather low.
Todd: Oh, OK.
Tenn: But, to see, we were on The Great Pyramid, and the second Pyramid, Kefron, was right near by, and it is a very different perspective to see it from, interesting to be eye-level, to be on the same level as the top of that second pyramid.
Todd: OK. Wow! So you were in Peru, right?
Tenn: Yes.
Todd: OK. What's the big thing people see in Peru?
Tenn: Machu Pichu.
Todd: Machu Pichu. OK. What is Machu Pichu?
Tenn: Machu Pichu is the ruins of a city that was built by the Inca People.
Todd: OK.
Tenn: Over three...six hundred years ago, and was lost, no one knew what happened to it. until it was recently discovered about a hundred years ago.
Todd: OK. Wow. Nice. Alright, thanks a lot David
Tenn: Sure!
Todd: Or Tennessee.