Task 1: Do you agree or disagree that it is a good idea for university to ask a student to leave school if he was caught cheating in exams? Explain your response in details.
Sample
I don’t think the university should ask a student to leave school if he or she is caught cheating. First, it seems a little extreme to expel someone for cheating. People cheat, it’s in our nature to find shortcuts, I’m sure all of us have done it once or twice in life, maybe even more than that. But does it call for this level of punishment? I don’t think so. I think it’s more appropriate to ask the student to retake that course. Second, there’re more positive ways to deal with cheating. Why not give him a second chance? A warning is plenty enough for someone decent.
Task 2: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? University education is more important than it was in the past.
Sample
I disagree with the statement that university education is more important these days for the following reasons. First, we have so many more ways to learn and better ourselves in today’s world. A resourceful person can find pretty much anything online as long as he knows where to look for. With the right keywords, we can pull up all we need using a search engine like google. Second, it used to be the case a person must go to university to get access to equipment like computers. Today, it’s different. Computers and other basic scientific equipment are so cheap, it’s perfectly normal to own them at home.
Task 3
Listening:
Announcement: The university decides to add music concerts during the lunchtime.
Reason 1: Good for music student to have chances to perform
Reason 2: Provide food during the intersection
Listening:
The woman agrees
Reason 1: The university usually has only one concert at the end of the year, so that music students are not able to perform many pieces of music. Adding concerts during the lunchtime would provide them opportunities to perform more pieces of music that they practiced.
Reason 2: The music building is far away from other class buildings. Students have to squeeze their time to attend to the concert. So it is great that the university provides food for them for their convenience.
Task 4
Definition: Environment impact assessment, "The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision makers consider the environmental impacts when deciding whether or not to proceed with a project.”
Example: The professor gives an example of a construction company. The company was going to build a shopping center on a large land. Before the construction, they did a study and found the land was wetland. Their original plan was to fill solid soil into this land. But the environment impact assessment said that the wetland was very important for the environment. It could prevent flooding because it could hold water. So they decided not to fill the land and cancel this plan. Alternatively, they moved to another piece of land.
Task 5
Problem: The girl dropped her cellphone at her parent's house, but she needs it to make calls and send text messages on campus.
Solution 1: Drive back to pick it up
Pro: /
Con: It would take 3 hour. And she will have a chemistry exam this week. She wants to prepare for it rather than spend time on the road.
Solution 2: Ask her parents to mail it to her
Pro: She could use someone’s phone first while waiting for hers
Con: But they cannot mail it until tomorrow, it would also take time for her to pick it up from the campus drop box.
Task 6
Two adaptations of rain forest plants to avoid water accumulation.
Adaptation 1: Coating of the plant
Example: Some plants have waxy substances so that when rains drop down, it is not easy for them to accumulate on the plant surface.
Adaptation 2: Shaped leaves
Example: Some leaves have drip tips, so that water can run away very quickly.
