Part – 1 answers

Sports
Q. What types of sports do you like?
Q. What is the most popular sport in your country?
Q. Do you prefer team or individual sports? [Why?]
Q. Did you play any sport in your childhood that you no longer play? [Why?]
Q. Who is your favourite sports star? [Why]

Q. What types of sports do you like?

Answer: I have always been a fan of almost all kinds of sports except sports
like boxing and wrestling because I find boxing and wrestling to be a bit too
violent for my test. Anyway, just to name a few of the sport I like, they are
football (soccer), cricket, hockey, tennis, badminton, ice hockey and volleyball.
Q. What is the most popular sport in your country?
Answer: I would say that cricket is the most popular sport in my country, given
the huge crowds this sport attracts, followed by soccer and hockey. Of course,
some would also argue that soccer/football is the most popular sport in my
country.

Do you prefer team or individual sports?[Why?]

Answer: I prefer team sports, mainly because the team sport encourages
interaction with other players and learn to cooperate, and thus improving the
skill level of an individual team member further, which wouldn’t be possible
otherwise. Team sports provide more opportunities for us to learn meaningful
things such as responsibility, unity, teamwork and bravery.
Q. Did you play any sport in your childhood that you no longer play?
[Why?]
Answer: Yes, I did play volleyball in my childhood, which I no longer play,
primarily because I have become busy with other priorities of life. Besides,
since I have grown up, I have begun to like other kinds of sports instead of
'volleyball'.

Who is your favourite sports star? [Why]

Answer: Sachin Tendulkar is my favourite sports star because of his mastery
skills in cricket, unbelievable innings that helped his team to win, unforgettable
shot selections while batting and the magical power in influencing the game
with his talent and abilities. Perhaps no other cricketer in our continent has
influenced and motivated people to watch or enjoy this sport as he did for
years after years.
Alternative Answer: My favourite sports star of all time is Imran Khan who is a
former Pakistani cricket all-rounder as well as a former Pakistan cricket team
captain. He is my favourite sports star because of his extraordinary cricketing
skills, abilities and cricket sense, which turned him into one of the best cricket
all-rounders of all time.

Law
Q. Why do you think law and order are important?
Q. Who/which department is most responsible for enforcing the law?
Q. Should laws be more universal?
Q. Is there any law you think is too strict? [Why?/Why not?]
Q. How do people in your country generally think about obeying laws?

Q. Why do you think law and order are important?

Answer: Law and order are important and necessary in order to maintain an
ideology for a society to be bound together by. It defines a set of conducts and
norms that one must comply to be considered a part of a civilized group of
people who don’t undermine the right of other people.

Who/which department is most responsible for enforcing the law?

Answer: The judiciary branch of the government is most responsible for
enforcing the law in a society and country. Law and order enforcement
agencies like police, army, military and paramilitary forces help the judiciary
branch to effectively enforce the law.
Q. Should laws be more universal?
Answer: No, I don’t think that the laws should be any more universal than they
already are, simply because people in different parts of the world live under
different codes of behaviour, religious principles and cultural values, and trying
to force them to live under some so-called universal laws would prove out to
be counter-productive.
Q. Is there any law you think is too strict? [Why?/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, I do think that the law which allows the death penalty is too
strict. But, then again, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a law that is “strict” is
 always bad. Rather, it could be good for the overall well-being of a society in
the long run, especially when the crime rate increases, and at that time, some
strict laws ensure the rights of its members.
Q. How do people in your country generally think about obeying laws?
Answer: I would say that people in my country are generally law-abiding
citizens, given the mountains of problems and adverse situations the people
have to deal with on a regular basis.
 

PART – 2 Cue Card

Describe an interesting conversation you had with someone

you never knew before.
You should say:
 who was the person
 what type of conversation you had
 how you met this person and how the conversation started
and explain how you felt about having this conversation with a stranger.

I am not exactly a very outgoing person or a “social bug” who likes to socialize with strangers
or meet everybody around, let alone having conversations with them.  But, on one occasion,
I did talk with a complete stranger, at a time, when I was least expecting it.

I met him at a local airport in my country when we both were travelling to one of the major
cities in my country about a year ago or so.  We both were waiting at the departure lounge,
sitting next to each other, in order to board our flight.  Suddenly, the gentleman, probably in
his mid 40’s, requested me to look after his luggage and belongings so that he could go and
grab some fresh coffee from one of the coffee stores at the airport.  I reluctantly agreed to
his request, but I didn’t forget to ask him politely to return as soon as possible to attend his
luggage and belongings, as I didn’t really like to take any responsibility for the stuff of other
people, let alone a complete stranger.

The gentleman came back quickly with two cups of coffee instead of just one.  He offered
me one, and I, again, reluctantly accepted it.  It was at the point that he introduced himself to
me as a very successful businessman.  Anyway, after that little introduction, I told him that
he shouldn’t have left his belongings to a complete stranger like me.  In response, he simply
told me that he had become a successful and happy man, both in his personal and
professional life, mainly because he had learned to trust others.  Needless to say, after
listening to such a positive response, I felt really embarrassed because of my poor treatment
of him earlier.
 Anyway, after having a conversation with the stranger, I felt that I needed to become more
broad-minded towards others to learn more about the valuable lessons of life. Besides, I also
realized that we all needed to trust somebody at some point in our life if we really wanted to
become happy and successful in life.

2nd Cue card

Describe a storybook or a novel that was particularly

interesting to you.
You should say:
 what the storybook/novel was
 what it was about
 why you read it
and explain why you think it was so interesting.

Model Answer:
I never really got a book as a gift on any of my birthdays, but when I got “To
kill a Mockingbird”, a classic novel, on my 16th birthday instead of some
unique gifts, I asked myself why I never thought of a book as a perfect gift for
a birthday before!

I didn’t open the book until after 3 months then, and as I got a long vacation
from my college afterwards, I planned to read it. It is a super classic novel,
written by Harper Lee during 1960, that talks about the past American society
in the 30’s of 20th century in a very realistic away, when racism was prevailing
in every corner and every activity of the said society, even though everybody
talked about how racism was wrong.  This classic book also describes how
one man’s good intention is just not enough to make a difference in a town
which is full of racism, and that sometimes it takes another generation
(generation of character “Scout”) to break away from the cruel and rather
limited way of thinking of the previous generation.

This book was a really interesting read primarily because, in my humble

opinion, even though, it talks about serious issues like rape and racial
inequality, it has done so by perfectly blending warmth and humour.
I liked reading this great classic also because it very nicely tried to advocate a
female “protagonist” character without defending her actions or inactions
because of her gender. Besides, the pragmatic and easy-flowing conversation
among different characters falls in the “realm of truthfulness and no pretence”
is simply outstanding.  Another thing, which I found really interesting about this
book, is that even though this is a classic novel, it doesn’t shy away from
portraying the different phases of child growth in a very wonderful manner.
Finally, I found this book fascinating also because even though this book was
written a long time ago, it is still very relevant because racism, cruelty,
prejudices and discrimination still shockingly exist today in many societies in
the same ugly magnitude or perhaps in a more severe form.

Part – 3

Questions

Do you think advertising influences what people buy?

Yes, definitely. If there were no advertising and you went to a shop, then you
would just buy what you wanted based on maybe what others have told you, what
the product looks like, or, depending on the product, what it says on the label.
Advertising builds up a brand and people then trust a certain thing because they
have seen it on television or elsewhere. Also, there is so much advertising around it
must influence us. You can’t escape it as it is fed to us constantly in our daily lives
– not only in magazines, radio and television, but on billboards, on TVs installed
on trains and platforms, even in schools and universities. So yes, advertising
influences what we buy.
Do advertisements give correct information, or do they encourage people to
buy things that they may not need?
I think some do and some don’t, but it’s difficult to know which are giving us the
correct information. For example, the skin whitening products – I do not believe
that these work but we see them everywhere in Asian countries, and we are
encouraged to buy them even though they are not actually necessary. The adverts,
though, tell us they are necessary as they will improve our lives and we will
become more accepted and successful. This then, is an example of advertising
encouraging people to buy something they do not need. I do think there are checks
in most countries these days to make sure that adverts are giving the correct
information and not lying to people, but I think it is still easy for advertisers to
exaggerate or to do this without breaking the regulations.
Is advertising really necessary in modern society?

It could be seen to be necessary in terms of the fact that, as I mentioned before, there is so much
choice that we need someone to guide us in what to buy or to give us some extra information about
products. Without this, it would be difficult to know where to start. However, that said, I’m not sure
that I would regard it as ‘necessary’ as overall I think it may do more harm than good. As we just
discussed, advertising encourages people to buy things they possibly do not need. We live in a
consumer society and many people are in debt because we are encouraged to buy and buy, and I’m
sure advertising plays a major role in this. Without advertising we could just do our own research
and decide what we really need. So no, I would not say that advertising in necessary in modern
society.

The Internet 

Now we'll move on to the influence of the internet.

Do you think people take notice of advertisements on the internet?
Despite the fact that there are many adverts on the internet these days, I think
actually many people tend to ignore them, or at least that is my experience. People
usually go onto the internet to find something specific that they are looking for,
which may be a product, or to read about something, so they will ignore what is
not relevant to that. But of course there is no doubt that some people take notice of
them. Advertising on the internet is a practice most companies partake in now, and
they have to pay quite substantial sums to advertise on highly ranked sites. Of
course they would not do this if it were not attracting customers for them.
How do you think it will change people's buying habits in the future?
Buying from the internet is becoming more and more popular. For example, we’ve
seen many book shops close down because people can buy online at cheaper prices
from sites such as Amazon. It makes life much easier if products can be delivered
direct to our door, especially with our busy modern lifestyles. I think this will only
increase in the future as more people feel safe to buy online and online shops make
it easier to purchase this way. Also, I think our lives are only going to become
busier, so more people will choose to shop this way.

Are there any disadvantages to shopping on the internet?

There certainly are some. Firstly, buying clothes can be a problem. When you go
into a shop you can check what you are buying fits you and suits you, but it is
obviously not possible to do this online. Shopping does not become less hassle if
you have to send something back in the post. Another problem is the security. We
have to give out our bank details to people we don’t know. There have been
several recent reports in the press about sites that have had their security breached
and credit card details have been stolen. So far this is fairly uncommon, but it is a
risk none the same. Another disadvantage is to society as it could destroy local
shops and businesses if people are not going out to shop in their local town.

Transport

Let's talk about transport.

How do most people travel long distances in your country?
I’d say that the main ways are cars, buses and trains. If someone has a car, I think
this is their preference because to be honest the trains are not that much cheaper
where I live. Also there are often delays with the trains which can be a real pain, so
you may end up with a really long journey. The buses are a bit cheaper but I don’t
think that is such a comfortable way to travel.  There is the option to travel by
plane as well of course, but most of the bucket airlines go abroad – you can’t really
travel that cheaply by plane within the country. So then, cars are really the best
option, and of course they give you the most freedom when you are travelling.
Have the types of transport people use changed much over the last few
decades?
I don’t think they have really. We’ve had the transport I mentioned before for
many decades now in my country, and it is much the same today. Of course cars
have become much more popular as people’s incomes have risen which accounts
for the problems we see on the roads today such as congestion and more accidents
and pollution. This has probably led to some changes within cities. Many have now
introduced environmentally friendly forms of transport such as trams and guided
buses that don’t run on gas and mean that people can travel without the use of the
car. There has also been an increase in air travel, but like I said, this is quite
expensive in my country so most cannot afford it.
What kinds of improvement have there been in transport in your country in
recent years?
There has been several ways that transport has improved. More major roads have
been built which means it is easier to travel long distances, though of course some
would argue that more roads are not an improvement. They can be an eyesore in
the countryside and they have encouraged more people to drive which may mean
these improvements ultimately don’t work because there are more cars using the
roads. As I mentioned before, there has been the introduction of mass transit in
many cities, such as trams and trains. In our capital city they have also extended
the underground system so it now links many more areas of the city. This has
helped many people as commuting times are horrendous if you have to travel on
the roads.  Those are the main improvements.