新托福TPO口语参考答案——TPO15

1. People make friends in many different ways. What do you think
is a good way to make new friends? Use specific details and
examples in your response.

I think attending group activity is a good way to make new friends.
In a group activity, people usually have same interests and they
perform some tasks together, so there’s a chance that some of
the group members need to cooperate. Through cooperation, people
start to know each other and then make friends. For example, I
always play basketball with strangers. At the beginning, I don’
t even know my teammates’ names. But after a few hours'
cooperation, we become friends and start to talk about each other.
Sometimes, we even go to have a meal after playing. And actually,
this is how I make friends.

2. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It's
important to remember and learn from the past. Use details and
examples to explain your opinion.

I totally agree with this statement that it’s important to
remember and learn from the past. We all make mistakes and we all

have to remember mistakes. Because mistakes tell us what isn’
t right. For example, when I was in the first grade primary school,
I took a toy car from another student without informing him. I
was too young to know that taking things from others without
mentioning isn’t right. Then my teacher helped the other student
find this toy car and labeled me as a thieve. I didn’t realize
how serious this matter was until my father told me that this was
humiliating. I swore to myself that I would never take anything
from others without informing the owners. I think this is a
valuable lesson and I’ll remember it forever.

3. The man expresses his opinion about the proposal in the
student's letter. Briefly summarize the proposal. Then state the
man's opinion about the proposal and explain the reasons he gives
for holding that opinion.

The writer of the letter proposes that university should pave
running trails to increase their safety and also make them look
nicer. The man in the conversation thinks the proposal is a
terrible idea. As for the thing about making trails safer, the
man says the writer doesn’t think about the long-term consequences

of running on a hard surface. It’s too hard on bones and joints
and can lead to injuries. So it’s actually safer to run on the
soft surface. About making trails look nicer, the man doesn’t
think people will like it. He says the main reason why people enjoy
the trails now is that people can take a break from buildings and
streets to feel the nature. If the university pave the trails,
the trails will look similar to buildings and streets. Then people
wont’ go there any more.

4. Explain how the example from the professor's lecture
illustrates the experimenter effect.

Experimenter Effect is a problem that occurs when a researcher’
s expectations affect the outcome of the experiment. In the
example, the researcher was given two groups of monkeys. He was
asked to train them to pick up a ball and put it in a box. Then
he recorded how many hours it took to train each group of monkeys
to learn to do so. Before experiment, the researcher was told that
one group is more intelligent than the other. But actually they
are all the same. What's surprising is that it took the researcher
two- hour less time to train the supposedly more intelligent group

than the supposedly less intelligent group. This is because the
researcher thought one group is smarter and would be easier to
train so he smiled to them, gave them encouragement and
communicated with them a lot. However, the researcher wasn’t very
enthusiastic about the other group, the supposedly less
intelligent group. So the researcher’s expectation actually
influenced the result of the research.

5. Briefly summarize the problem the speakers are
discussing. Then state which solution you would
recommend. Explain the reasons for your recommendation.

The woman is in a choir and the choir is going to have a concert
in a hour. All the choir members are required to wear white shirts
and black pants. But the woman spilled the spaghetti all over her
white shirt and she doesn’t have time to buy another new one.
There are two possible solutions. The first one is to wear another
shirt that’s not exactly white. It’s a little cream color. But
she won’t be looking exactly same as others and some audience
may be able to tell the difference. The second solution is to
borrow a shirt from her roommate. But her roommate is out of town.

And the woman hates to take things without asking. Personally,
I would recommend the woman to borrow the white shirt from her
roommate. The woman can send a text message or voice message to
her roommate to inform her. Since the concert is going to start
in an hour, I think the woman’s roommate will
understand heraction in this emergence.

6. Using the examples in the lecture, explain how the position
of bird's eyes is critical to their survival.

The professor talks about how the position of bird’s eyes help
them find food and avoid predators. Some birds have eyes that face
forward to the skull so that they can clearly see and judge
distance. They can focus on things with both eyes and accurately
predict height, width and depth. For example, hawks position their
eyes in the front. They have such a good eye sight that they can
spot a tiny mouse in a field from high in the sky. When they spot
a mouse, they will swoop down and catch it. So the placement of
their eyes help them find food. Some other birds have their eyes
positioned on each side of the skull in order to avoid predators.
Their eyes on both sides help them watch for dangers. For example,

when a duck is eating grass and insects, it is constantly looking
out for danger from both sides. If a fox is approaching from either
side, the duck will fly and escape. So the placement of ducks'
eyes help them avoid predators.