TEST 4 SPEAKING CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH IELTS 4

CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH IELTS 4

TEST 4

SPEAKING

PART 1 The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, him/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics Example Your favourite place → What place do you most like to visit? → How often do you visit this place? → Why do you like it so much? → Is it popular with many other people? → Has it changed very much since you first went there? (In what way?) PART 2 Describe a useful website you have visited. You should say what the website was how you found the address for this website and explain why it was useful for you. 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 The Internet and communication Example questions What effect has the internet had on the way people generally communicate with each other? Why do you think the internet is being used more and more for communication? How reliable do you think information from the internet is? Why? What about the news on the internet? The Internet and shopping Example questions: Why do you think some people use the internet for shopping? Why doesn’t everyone use it in this way? What kinds of things are easy to buy and sell online? Can you give me some examples? Do you think shopping on the internet will be more or less popular in the future? Why?

ANSWER KEY

Model Answer PART 1 Q. What place do you most like to visit? [Why?] Answer: The place, I like to visit the most, is called the “White Cliffs of Dover” in Kent. I like to visit this stunning coastline, which has been saying ‘hello’ and ‘farewell’ to thousands of people crossing the English Channel for centuries because of its gorgeous geology with dazzling white chalk faces, sharp edges rising 350 feet above the sea level along with the layers of wild and lush grasses. Q. How often do you visit this place? [Why?] Answer: I like to visit this place, one of the most famous landmarks in the UK, if not the most, twice a year because visiting beautiful places is one of the few things that I really enjoy out of my very busy work life, and White Cliffs of Dover seems to top the list of those places which helps me relax the most because of its stunning natural beauty. Q. Why do you like it so much? Answer: I like visiting this place so much because of its unique feature. In fact, there are very few places on this earth where one can see such a long stretch of coastline which is completely made of white chalks. I like it also because this place, standing tall as the guardians of the island, has witnessed many historical events such as the unsuccessful Roman invasion of Julius Caesar and being on the frontline of the First World War and the Second World War. Q. Is it popular with many other people? [Why?] Answer: Yes, it is popular with many other people because of Dover Castle the largest castle in the UK, and the Bronze Age boat apart from the stunning looking White Cliffs are the centre of attractions to many visiting tourists. In fact, in the past few years, an average of 3.4 million people chose Dover for a day trip, and of them, over 500,000 people chose to stay there overnight. Q. Has it changed very much since you first went there? [In what way?] Answer: Yes, it has changed since I visited this place last time as people can enjoy an annual plant fair event now where beautiful flower plants, as well as vegetable plants, are displayed for the public view. Besides, the number of visitors had also significantly increased since I visited there last time. PART 2 I hardly know or meet people who don’t like food. In fact, the idea of trying different kinds of food from different cultures and countries has become so popular among some people around the world that they don’t mind spending a lot of their time and money to learn about them. In fact, I also do the same, but I do it mostly by visiting some great cooking and food-related websites. Today, I would like to talk about one such website that I visit from time to time. The address of this website is https://www.foodnetwork.com. As the name suggests, this is a food-related website, and I found about it about a few years ago when I was searching for some unique food recipes online, which I could use to cook some good dishes within a short period of time. By the way, sometimes I just get bored of eating the same kind of food, so I look for new recipes so that my mother could try them sometimes to prepare some new but delicious meals. Anyway, the website contains recipes and food ideas pretty much from all over the world. The contents on the website are so unique and appealing that it would be almost impossible for someone to leave the website without having an urge to cook them sometimes on their own.  Besides, the images of different food dishes on this website are simply outstanding. In fact, just by looking at these pictures on this website, one would automatically feel the urge to go into a kitchen even if he/she never liked cooking in the past. The website also contains all kind of information as to what kinds of food is perfect for any possible occasions, a person could ever think of. Anyway, I find this website useful, mainly because it allows me to change my taste in foods without running to an expensive restaurant. Besides, it also allows me and my family to surprise our friends and relatives by serving them some unique dishes, when they expect them in the least, which makes me happy. PART 3 The internet and communication: Q. What effect has the internet had on the way people generally communicate with each other? Answer: The internet, along with other modern communication technologies, has pretty much revolutionized the idea of communication by making it very convenient, cheap, personal and very instantaneous. With the use of the internet, one can communicate with more than one person at a time with very minimal efforts and costs. The internet also has helped us communicate with virtually anybody while actually watching them live also on computer/phone screens even if we live a world apart from each other. However, the use of internet has made face-to-face communication rather less frequent as we prefer to call someone or chat with that person online rather than visiting him/her in person. Q. Why do you think the internet is being used more and more for communication? Answer: The internet is being used more and more for personal and professional communications primarily because it has become more accessible in recent days. The power to reach virtually anyone and instantly, no matter where the person lives in this world, has also made it immensely popular. We can exchange a huge amount of data and information within a very short period of time at a minimal cost with the help of the internet and this has made the business world embrace this technology. Besides, the internet helps us to make our communication more “personalized” as the communicating parties are able to view each other live on camera without paying anything “extra”. Finally, the way social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter have connected us is unprecedented. Q. How reliable do you think information from the internet is? Why? What about the news on the internet? Answer: I would venture to think that most of the information, obtained on the internet, is reliable for the most part if obtained from an authoritative source. But one can never be too much careful in verifying and checking the authenticity of many data and information easily available on the websites, primarily because anyone these days is able to post pretty much any kinds of information without the much-needed “oversight”. The same holds true for the news on the internet as well because the same news, if not posted and published in an objective manner, can very easily be “considered” as some dangerous “propaganda” by the parties with very limited knowledge and intellectual capacity. Fake news spread faster than ever before and we should always look for the authority and authenticity of a news source before reading and sharing it. The internet and shopping: Q. Why do you think some people use the internet for shopping? Why doesn’t everyone use it in this way? Answer: Well, I am very much against “shopping” on the internet, at least considering how consumers are often duped in my country when they purchase something online. Unless I am offered a very - I mean “very” – valid reason to fall in online shopping's favour, I avoid it. Therefore, please forgive me if I don’t sound much “politically correct” when answering the first part of this question. Anyway, in my humble opinion, some people like to do internet shopping probably because either they are just too lazy to get out, or they do not care enough to seek the best value for their purchases. Now, to answer the second part of the question, not everyone is “crazy” enough to buy things on the internet because they want to “feel” and “check” the products in person before making their purchasing decisions, which is just not possible on the internet. Q. What kinds of things are easy to buy and sell online? Can you give me some examples? Answer: Only small, light, dry and inexpensive items, as well as the commonly popular items among the customers, are easy to buy and sell online. Examples may include pen, paper, books, regular clothes, scissors, kitchen tools and utensils, cosmetics & beauty products, regular sound amplifiers and so on. In my humble opinion, these products are easy to buy and sell online also because they are used on a fairly regular basis, and, as a result, both the buyers and sellers online feel relatively more confident and safe about them. However, from the market trends, I can say that flowers, toys for children, electronic gadgets, old cars, and furniture are often being bought and sold online these days in my country. Q. Do you think shopping on the internet will be more or less popular in the future? Why? Answer: I would think that shopping on the internet will become more and more popular in the future, not because it is necessarily better than shopping in the regular physical markets, but because people are becoming too busy to pay attention to improve their quality of lives in general by actually checking the things, they need, in person before buying them. Besides, some people will always get deceived by cheap slogans like “buying from the comfort of your homes” in order to enjoy some “short-term” benefits while completely ignoring the benefits in the long run. Moreover, the popularity of online payment systems and more convenient shipment facility will connect more sellers and buyers in the future which will result in a boom in the eCommerce industry in the future.