新托福TPO口语参考答案——TPO19

1. Talk about a skill or ability that you consider especially
important for a student to have. Use details and examples to
explain your answer.

The ability to find answers one one’s own is important for students
to have. As we all know, there are many problems we can’t solve
by simply asking others, classmates, friends or even teachers.
And sometimes we meet a problem but there is no one around to offer
help. So we have to find the answers by ourselves. We can use Search
Engines such as google to see if any similar questions have been
asked. We can also use Internet database such as Wikipedia to see
if there is any relevant items that can provide useful information
to answer our questions or to help solve problems. In a word, the
ability to find answers by oneself is very important.


2. More and more people are buying items on the Internet and from
magazines or catalogs. Other people prefer shopping in a store.
Which do you prefer and why?

I prefer to buy things on the Internet rather than do shopping

in a store. Firstly, it’s very easy to find things on Internet.
You just have to input the key words into search engine on a web
store, the results will be listed on the screen immediately. Then
you pick the one you need and use credit card to pay the item.
After a few days or so, the item will be delivered directly to
your house or apartment. Secondly, Internet has more items than
does store. Many times I walk in a bookstore and walk out without
the book I want. But I never meet the problem buying books online.
I can either buy books from Web bookstores such as Amazon or buy
second-handed books from individuals. So, these are the reasons
why I choose to buy items on the Internet.

3. The man expresses his opinion of the university’s plan. State
his opinion and explain the reasons he gives for holding that
opinion.

The university is going to make a 25-dollar increase in student
fee for using the campus recreation center to upgrade the facility
so that more students will use the facility. Also, the decision
is approved because 25-dollar is a reasonable amount of money.
The man in the conversation thinks it’s a great idea. Firstly,

he says people don’t go there because the facility is old and
exercise equipment breaks down. If they upgrade the facility and
provide new equipment, students will get more use at it. It’s
not good to just let it empty. Students will be stressed out if
they don’t do any exercise. Secondly, he says 25 dollars is not
much, compared to the money students spend on CDs and movies.
Furthermore, it’s one charge for a whole year. Considering the
benefits, this is not much to pay.

4. Use the examples from the lecture to explain the concept of
social learning.

Social learning is a way people learn by watching the behavior
of others. If the behavior leads to desirable results, people will
imitate it. If the behavior leads to undesirable result, people
will not imitate it. In the professor’s example, two kids, sister
and brother are shopping with their mother. If the girl wants a
toy and asks her mother to buy it for her. But the mother says
no. Then the girl cries and screams. Finally the mother gives in
and buys the girl the toy. At the same time, the little brother
is watching all this. Next time if he wants something, he will

cry and scream, which means he imitates the behaviors from his
sister. But if the mom didn’t give in, didn’t buy the girl the
toy and didn’t let the girl watch TV program. Again the boy is
watching. Next time if he wants a toy, probably he is not gonna
cry and scream. Since the behavior doesn’t lead to a desirable
consequence, the boy will not imitate the behavior.

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

The woman’s got a scheduling problem. The day the woman has been
assigned to teach at the school in town will be the same day her
Chinese history course meets. There are two possible solutions.
The first one is to take the Chinese history course in another
semester. But this course is taught by a visiting professor who
is amazing and will only be here one semester. Another solution
is to change her teaching assignment to a different day to teach
little kids. But she wants to teach old kids because that’s what
she wants to do after graduation. I would recommend the woman
to take the second solution. Since the visiting professor will

only be here in one semester and she is planning to go to China,
it’s important to grip this opportunity. There must have some
other ways to gain experience of teaching old kids but having a
Chinese history course taught by a Chinese professor is not that
easy.

6. Using the examples of the albatross and fulmar, explain two
special adaptations that have developed to help seabirds find
food.

The professor talks about two special adaptations developed to
help seabirds find food. The first adaptation is the Length of
wings. Usually, when birds fly, they have to flap wings up and
down and uses a lot of energy. Bu albatross, a kind of seabird,
has specially long wings that enable it t fly without moving wings
up and down. So it can glide and float on the wind using little
energy. This is so because albatross has to cover huge expanse
of ocean to locate food. Another adaptation is acute sense of smell.
Fulmar also has to find food scattered in the ocean and its main
source of food is tiny plankton. Fulmar develops tiny tubes inside
nose hole and the special tube-shape nostrils help them to pick

up the scent of food. Plankton is hard to see but it gives sharp
distinctive odor. So Fulmar can find plankton by smelling them
even from far away.