TEST 1 SPEAKING CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH IELTS 6

CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH IELTS 6

TEST 1

SPEAKING

PART 1 The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, him/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics Example Musical instruments → Which instrument do you like listening to most> (Why?) → Have you ever learned to play a musical instrument? (Which one?) → Do you think children should learn to play a musical instrument at school? (Why/ Why not?) → How easy would it be to learn to play an instrument without a teacher? (Why?) → PART 2 Describe someone in your family who you like. You should say what you do where you do it who you do it with and explain why you think doing this is healthy. You will have to talk about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes. You have one minute to think about what you’re going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish. PART 3 Discussion topics Keeping fit and healthy Example questions What do most people do to keep fit in your country? How important is it for people to do some regular physical exercise? Health and modern lifestyles Example questions: Why do some people think that modern lifestyles are not healthy? Why do some people choose to lead unhealthy lives? Should individuals or governments be responsible for making people’s lifestyle healthy? What could be done to encourage people to live in a healthy way?

ANSWER KEY

Model Answer PART 1 Q.  Which instrument do you like listening to most? [Why?] Answer: I like listening to the tune of the guitar the most primarily because this versatile musical instrument is able to play any kind of my favourite songs at very ease. Besides, listening to the guitar helps me to get in the positive frame of mind when I feel little “depressed”. Q.  Have you ever learned to play a musical instrument? [Which one?] Answer: I learned to play the guitar as a high school student almost 10 years ago, and I became reasonably good at playing it. I even played this great musical instrument in subsequent years at some parties with my friends. But, as I got older and became busy with other priorities of life, I now pay it only once in a blue moon. Q.  Do you think children should learn to play a musical instrument at school? [Why/Why not?] Answer: Children should learn to play a musical instrument because it would help children develop math skills, quick thinking, and creativity. In fact, understanding the relationship between different musical notes and chords is pure math. Besides, it would actually help bring out the musical talents, hidden in children, and turn them into some very famous and world-class musicians in future. Q.  How easy would it be to learn to play an instrument without a teacher? [Why?] Answer: I personally think that without the guidance and supervision of a mentor, learning a musical instrument and being good at it is pretty impossible. This is primarily because the teacher can always correct us when we do something wrong and can motivate us to a great extent. Without the guidance of a master, we might even lose our inspiration to continue learning. PART 2 Like everybody else, I like to stay healthy while also enjoying life at the same time. But, the problem is we can’t really enjoy life enough unless we also enjoy doing something healthy from time to time. Of course, different people enjoy doing different kinds of healthy activities, but as far as I am concerned, it is swimming. I enjoy swimming. In fact, swimming was one of my most favourite hobbies when I was growing up as a child as I would hardly let any day pass by during the summertime without swimming, whether I was swimming in a lake or a big river. Besides, one of the greatest advantages of living in the countryside (yes, I grew up in the countryside until I started attending high school) of my country is that it almost certainly would have some natural lakes or rivers to invite those who would like to swim. Of course, the difference is that when I was growing up as a child, I used to enjoy swimming just for the fun of it, but today, I do swimming because it helps me remain healthy. Besides, these days, I swim mostly in a local swimming pool as the city, in which I live now, doesn’t have many natural lakes, rivers or any ocean where I would be able to enjoy this activity better. Anyway, I enjoy this healthy activity with a bunch of other guys (they are not related to me in any respect), and I do this every weekend if not more. By the way, I am trying to form a swimming club in my city in order to make swimming more of a fun activity rather than considering it as only a healthy activity. Anyway, I think that swimming is a healthy activity because it forces each and every part of our bodies to engage in perfect sync with each other in order to keep us floating in the water. Besides, it also helps me relax after a long week of work by allowing me to forget about the worries of my daily life for a while.    PART 3 Keeping fit and healthy: Q.  What do most people do to keep fit in your country? Answer: Most people in Germany try to remain fit by exercising at local gyms, walking in parks and swimming in the pool. Besides, it’s the very lifestyles of most people in Germany which help them to remain fit. In fact, walking and cycling in my country to get around are very common, with footpaths and cycle routes (more than 46,000 miles of cycle routes) all over the country, making it really easy to travel between the towns without a car. On top of that, most people in Germany are health-conscious, and as a result, they are very particular about their food and diets they choose to eat on a regular basis. Q.  How important is it for people to do some regular physical exercise? Answer: In my opinion, it is absolutely important for people to do some regular physical exercise in order to remain physically fit and healthy. Physical activity or exercise can improve our health and reduce the risk of developing several diseases like type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In fact, a minimum of 30 minutes of regular activity can improve our quality of life by helping us manage our weight better as well as having stronger bones, muscles and joints. Besides, regular exercise will make us feel better with more energy, better mood and better sleep. Q.  Why so many people these days suffer from stress-related issues? Answer: Even a few decades ago, very few people knew about stress the way we do today, and the reasons behind this are rather simple. Before a few decades, our family relationships and community ties were relatively stronger. Besides, back then, we were not exactly so much focused on goals such as money, fame, and self-image. Finally, our expectations are probably just too high from our lives these days, as opposed to a few decades ago, because we think that life is too short, and we will have to get everything right here and right now. Health and modern lifestyles: Q.  Why do some people think that modern lifestyles are not healthy? Answer: Many of us, rather than just some of us, in my country think that modern lifestyles are not healthy because we have compromised “quality” over “quantity” in a massive way. In our modern world today, we see no problem in sitting in front of our TV and computer for hours for no obvious benefits and reasons, and yet, we suddenly feel very “busy” to walk to a local store just for 10 minutes. We spend tons of money everyday eating “junk” food with almost no or very limited nutritional value, and yet, we suddenly become very “economic” when it comes to buying some fresh fruits and vegetables. So, yes, modern lifestyles may have given us a lot of things, but “health”, be it physical or mental, is probably not one of them. Q.  Why do some people choose to lead unhealthy lives? Answer: Some people choose to lead unhealthy lives either because they don’t understand the “value” of living a healthy life or they are just too “lazy and arrogant” to get out of their comfort zone in order to find out how leading unhealthy lives will affect their health and minds in the long run. Besides, some people, because of being unhappy with nothing to look forward in life, also choose to lead unhealthy lives. Then, finally, there is another group of people who choose to lead unhealthy lives because they are just “brought up” that way, and they consider that leading unhealthy lives actually make them look “cool” to others. Q.  Should individuals or governments be responsible for making people’s lifestyle healthy? Answer: What kind of lifestyles people should choose in order to remain healthy should be a personal and individual responsibility. What a person should eat and drink, and when a person should sleep, or how long a person should exercise every day should be entirely up to the person involved. If a person doesn’t understand what it takes to live a healthy lifestyle, the government can’t really do much about it except raising a certain level of awareness among its citizens about the benefits of living a healthy life as well as the harms of living an unhealthy one. However, the government can run some campaigns and advertisements to aware people about the importance of a salubrious lifestyle and can build more parks, sports centre and medical check-up points to help people lead a better life. Q.  What could be done to encourage people to live in a healthy way? Answer: The best way to encourage people to live in a healthy way is to teach them from a very early age, both at home and school, about the benefits of living a healthy life. Some kind of incentives and rewards, such as tax breaks or “certification”, can also be arranged for the “healthy families” in all communities so that the people there really feel “pumped up” and compete with each other in order to become “healthier” than others. Finally, at least one sports centres and one park/garden can be provided in close proximity of each community so that people there can go to those places and spend some times “working out and sweating” a little every day.