托福口语话题

要想获得新托福口语高分，练习必不可少。我们就开始模仿托福考试，做一些模拟练习吧。

托福口语话题：人才外流

It is said that Shanghai’s musicians abroad could form a world class symphony orchestra【2】.

But the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra once failed to find a qualified conductor for a whole year!

A similar situation exists in science, medicine and sports circles.

Stopping the outflow of talent depends on creating a sound domestic environment rather than simply setting up barriers for those who wish to go abroad.

A handful of people go abroad to seek a comfortable life. But most Chinese intellectuals emigrate because they cannot bring their talent into full play in their motherland.

Many conductors trained by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music【3】 have gone abroad either because they cannot find jobs in symphony orchestras due to the competition fro places, or because they cannot develop themselves in orchestras where promotion comes only by way of seniority.

We face a keen shortage of talent, but one batch of gifted people after another have gone abroad【4】. The situation is grim.

It is impossible to improve the conditions for all intellectuals by a wide margin【5】. But it is possible for governments at all levels to create a better environment for their development.

The outflow of talent is a loss to our nation as well as a pressure forcing us to optimize the environment 【6】 for the talented.

1. Brain Drain: 人才外流。

2. a world class symphony orchestra: 世界一流水平的交响乐队。

3. Shanghai Conservatory of Music: 上海音乐学院。

4. one batch of gifted people after another have gone abroad: 一批又一批的有才华的人们相继出国。

5. by a wide margin : 大幅度地。

6. to optimize the environment:尽可能改善工作环境。

托福口语话题：电视机

I. Listen

Listen to the text with the help of the following notes.

1. it is more convenient ...in search of amusement elsewhere: 【对四口之家来说】舒服地坐在家里，有着包罗万象的娱乐节目供选择，当然比外出到别的地方寻找娱乐活动更为方便，更合算了。

2. only to discover... disappointing: 最终发现演出是那样令人失望。此处only 表示出乎意料。

3. takes no initiative: 没有任何主动性。

4. The most distant countries...into one’s sitting -room: 最遥远的国度、最奇异的风俗了情被直接送到人们起居室。

5. flickering pictures: 闪烁为定的图像。

II. Read

Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading.

1. Why Watch Television?

Matthew: Television is undoubtedly a great invention, but one of the main criticisms of it is that people just aren’t selective enough. Lesley, you’ve got a television; how do you pick out the sorts of programmes you want to watch?

Lesley: I try and look at the programmes that are on to decide which particular ones interest me, rather than you turning it on at seven o’clock and you leaving it on until half-past eleven when the programmes finish.

Matthew: Do you think of television though as a great time-waster?

Lesley: I think it can be a time-waster and it depends on how particular people are about what they want to see...Mm, it can just be a sort of total amusement for someone and totally consuming without really considering what it is they’re watching.

Matthew: Aha, but how do you prevent it coming into your life and taking over your evenings and at the same time perhaps get... get out of the television some of the sort of best things... best programmes that ... that undoubtedly are on television?

Lesley: Well, I suppose one of the problems is... will depend on what a person’s life style is, and that if he has other outside interests which are equally important to him as television, he will then, you know, mm... be more careful about which programmes he wants to watch because he has time which he wants to use for other things.

Matthew: Do you think though that ... that in... in a sense television has killed people’s own er...sort of, creativity or their ability to entertain themselves because if they’re bored all they do is just turn on the television?

Lesley: Yes, I think that is a danger, and I think that... in fact is what is happening to a lot of people who use it as their ... their main ... um field of amusement and ... because they don’t have other outside interests and even when people come round they’ll leave the television on and not be, you know,particularly interested in talking to them, you know the television will be the main thing in the room.

Matthew: Peter, have you a television?

Peter: I have, in fact I’ve got two televisions.

Matthew: Do you watch them a lot?

Peter: Er...no I ...I watch very seldom er... In fact, I find that I watch television most when I’m working which requires nothing of me, then I watch television a lot. When I’ve got more energy left...um ...in my own private time, then I find I do more different things. I do things like um reading, or going out, or working on anything ...my hobbies.

Matthew: Do you think though that people can live a perfectly happy life if they haven’t got a television?

Peter: Oh yes, I think people who don’t have a television or people who don’t watch television can be expected to be more happy. You can assume I think if they never watch television they are happier people than the people who watch a lot of television, because I think that television goes with the kind of life which leaves you with nothing to spare, nothing left, you have to be given potted, passive entertainment.

Matthew: But in that case you...you seem as though you’re completely against television, is that true?

Peter: No, it’s not. I ...I have a television in fact, I have two as I said, but er I ... I ... I think there’s a dilemma, a difficult situation. Television in itself is very good; a ... a lot of the information and a lot of the programmes are very instructive, they introduce you to things you may never have though of before or never have hard about before. But in watching, it makes you very passive; you sit for hour after hour and you get very receptive and very unquestioning and it seems to me the important thing in life is to be active, to ... to do things, to think things and to be as creative as possible, and television prevents this.

托福口语话题：学生兼职II

1. when a film studio was there conducting auditions: 当一个电影制片厂正在那里【为挑选演员】举行面试时。

2. hopefuls: 指那些有希望入选的小孩。

3. capitalizing on high demand commodities not always available away from the big shopping centers:经销那些在大购物中心以外很难搞到的畅销品。

4. an amateur wholesale dealer: 业余批发商。

5. the retail price: 零售价。

6. merged their activities to avoid price wars: 联合经销以避免削价竞争。

7. High School Student Corporation Ltd of Exploitation of New Technology: 中学生新技术开发有限公司。

8. portfolio: 文件夹。

9. from American movie star Sylvester Stallone in Ranbo pose to Taiwan’s famous singer Qi Qin: 从美国影星西尔威斯特·史泰龙的《兰博》剧照，到台湾著名歌星齐秦。

10. a three per cent commission: 百分之三的手续费。

11. the State Commission of Education: 国家教委。

12. job stints: 零活儿

托福口语话题：城市生活

常用词汇：

apartment, banks, bookstore, building, cafeteria, capital, church, court, countryside, courtyard, district, flat, highway, hotel, house, hospital, junk shop旧货店; library, market, metropolis大都市; monument纪念碑; municipal市的，市政的; municipality市政当局; museum, newsstand报摊; outskirts, port, restaurant, school, scenery, shop, store, skyscraper摩天大楼; slums贫民区; stadium体育场; station, suburb, theatre, university, urban, zoo, etc.

常用短语：

art gallery 美术馆; barber shop, be up to one’s neck in work 忙碌; botanical garden 植物园; city centre, city hall市政厅，市政府; city planning, densely populated, department stores, down payment 分期付款的定金; employment agency职业介绍; garden city, get one’s hands full 很忙; modern buildings, modern industry, post office, public lavatory, public telephone, residential area, shopping center, snack bar, stock exchange股票交易所; traffic light, etc.

常用句型：

1. Could you tell me where the bank is?

2. Excuse me, where is the post office

3. How do you like where you live?

4. I’m an office worker.

5. I work for the government.

6. Let’s go to the snack bar and get something to eat.

7. The mall is packed today.

8. What are the main problems of the city life?

9. When is the store / the bar closing?

10. Where is the Lost and Found counter?