炎热的5月,见证了BEC高级考生挥汗如雨的奋战。我在北外考场以口语考官的身份,考差了14对、28人的高级口语。下面是一些点评。
问过姓名之后,就是Where are you from?
这道题,我的考场都是正确反应:
I am from Sichuan, China.
其它考场有的人说I'm from Ren Min University.答成了自己的学校。
第一部分有两套题,其中那个第一套题和去年一样,没有变化:
Work or Studies:
- What you find most interesting about your job or course
- About your future career plans
- Why you decided to learn English
- About your ideal kind of employer *
- Why you chose your particular career
- About the place where you work or study. *
其中画有*的题目有的考生没有理解。ideal kind of employer不一定需要考生是有工作的,因为它在问 “你理想的雇主具有哪些特点”,即使是在校生,也可以发表自己的意见、有的可说;学习或工作的地方,有的人没有思路,有的人有思路但是调理不清楚,用词也没有注意到质量。 下面是比较好的答案:
- About your ideal kind of employer *
Well, for me, I would like to join a company where there are well-developed training programs for young people. After all, money is not higly prioritized for someone fresh from school. Rather, gaining experience and qualification would be more important.
其中 In my opinion, opinion的发音有的人读错,重音、卷舌音乱来;As far as I'm conerned有的人说成了 as far as I am concern, 这也是错的。
- About the place where you work or study. *
I am a student in the Renmin University and I study fianance in the School of Finance. What I am most proud of my university is the prestige, which has been built over years with joint efforts from the school administration, professors and scholars as well as from business owners. ...
Type 2 Could you tell me
- How important you think imports are for people in your country
imports 的含义有些考生没有理解,那就是“进口”;理解后,也有人回答的不扣题。大部分人都能想到引进先进技术,但是英文的表述欠缺,下面这个回答较好:
Needless to say, imports play an essential role in economic development of China. In 1980s, China has just started the open-door policy and imports and exports started to become more dynamic. There are three significant aspects impacted by imports. The first one is in culture. Imported TV programs from Japan, US and some European countries brighten up the TV screens. The earliest ones include A Xin, produced in Japan, which is a biography of a ternacious woman named A Xin, who thrived the ups and downs in her life through hard-working. Another one , Man fromt the Atlantis, produced in the US, is a science fiction.
The 2nd aspect is in commodities. Brand names such as Maxim, a French brand, and McDonald's, the fast food chain, entred the Chinese market. Later on, a lot of other well-known big names followed suit.
Lastly,new technologies in car-making, information technologies were also imported initially, though numerous solutions and innovations have been developed locally by Chinese later on.
- What you think the advantages are for people in your country of spending time working abroad
这个题目许多人都能想到开阔眼界等,用词也比较俗
Working abroad offers a variety of benefits to people in general, including the Chinese.
Firslty, it allows people to get a global vision, which is an assets nowadays, when globalisation is taking place at a rapid rate. Specifically speaking, it is not uncommon to find foreign companies in China or doing business with Chinese counterparts. A global perspective will certainly help communications among multi-national team members.
Secondly, people can sharpen their English language skills. Needless to say, English is the working language in the world and working in another contry enables people to get more exposure language-wise. It is obvious that the workers would use the language to serve a purpose in their job, rather than learning it from a text book. Such practice of language will certainly polish their English.
Last but not least, people may understand different cultures better. When living and working abroad, people hava an opportunity to closely observe the local way of life, to be more exact, how people handle their daily tasks and how they do so differently between cultures. Something as simple as cutting a grape fruit could demonstrate such a difference.
- Whether you think the use of mobile phones for business is always positive in your country
这个题目有一个陷阱:always,哪里有一成不变的事情呢?所以客观的回答应该说手机在工作中大多数情况下是有用的,但是它也有一些不利于工作的地方。
Generally, mobile phones are quite useful in daily work. As known to all, people send text message, exchange emails and check maps on cell phones, which come in quite handy. However, I wouldn't say it is ALWAYS useful. A case in point is that when people attend meetings ,they get distracted by the messages on their cell phones, not to mention phone calls which are not urgent nor important. Besides distraction, it increases stress for cell phone users. People are on call all the time, which resulted in a dim line between life and work. By that I mean, employees are always on the work mode. Gradually, stress may lead to reduced productivity.
- How important you think language training will be in your country in future
这道题很不容易答出彩,大多数人都去说成英语的培训,而题目是讨论“语言培训”。所以,可以说中文的培训、沟通技巧、邮件、手机短信中的语言规范化等等,甚至是商务应用文的写作等等。
其它比较集中的问题有:
image, product的重音应该是Image, PROduct;
important 的替换词。
此次考试答得综合比较好的是学德语和阿拉伯语的同学,两个男生,英语专业的只有一个还比较好,其他人距离高级的要求还有些差距。总之,在我经手的14对考生中,10对左右时通过口语考试的。