Topics for oral test (2011/09 --- 2012/01)1.Please share with your group members your favorite athlete (at home /abroad).Nowadays, star athletes have not only acquired fame but also made a lot of money. Do you think star athletes really deserve what they get?My most favorite athelete is Yao Ming, one of the most famous basketball players in the world. He began to play basketball and revealed his natural gift for sport at 9 years old. At the age of 18, he became one of the members of the national basketball team. Four years later, he entered the NBA as the second Chinese player ever played in it. With 2.26 meters in height and excellent basketball skills, he plays a key role in the team and obtains numerous scores during the matches. Beside, he also do many public welfare undertakings, which help a good deal of needy pepple Most important, Yao Ming has won many honours for our nationI think they deserve the fame and salary. I think that we should consider how competitive and harsh the modern arena has become and how much effort has all those athletes have put in to get this reputation and salary. not to mention the salary is not always the personnal property. The salary they get from the game often put into game again to continue their train2.What’s your opinion about advertising? Can we live without ads? Why?Advertisements can be seen everywhere in modern society. They appear on the TV screen. and display or paint on walls and even on buses. Indeed, nowadays it is difficult to find a public place without advertisements. It is true that advertisements play an important role in economic activities. They can tell people about new products and help to promote sales. However, some of the advertisements are not true. They cheat consumers one way or another. So, admitting that advertisements can help us, we should also beware of them from time to time.In my opinion I think we can't live without ads .Because ads has been a necessary part of our daily life. there are several factors can support my view.Firstly, advertising is informative, and provides the customers with a quick access to the product needed. Secondly, consumers can expect to have a good bargain by comparing and the prices and functions of the goods advertised by different suppliers. Thirdly, showing advertising of different countries, we can learn different culture. Undoubtedly this will improve mutual understanding and friendship.3.What’s the purpose of holidays? And what do people do on holidays?Our life is full of many kinds of holidays, such as summer holiday, winter holiday, and many other kinds of national legal holidays.Now, the holidays become the only chance for people to relax themselves and to relieve the work and study pressure. The purpose of the holidays can be elaborated in terms of three aspects. Firstly, the holiday can give us a time to relax ourselves.. Secondly, we can go to visit our friends and relatives on the holidays. Thirdly, the holidays give us a chance to walk into our own life.we can do sth we like.. Different people do different things. A lot of people, such as the civil servants, teachers, choose to travel. Because travelling can give them a wonderful feeling close tothe nature and the history. For some workmen, they make full use of the holiday to learn something that is badly in need. During school holidays, many students often go to attend some tutorial class to make themselves more smart4What do you know about critical period theory? Do adults and children learn alanguage differently or in the same way? Try to explain with examples there is a(isn’t any) critical period for learning a skill.The idea of a critical period comes from the study of animals I think children learn new languages much more easily and quickly than adults. The theory that there is a critical period for language learning can explain it As we all know, people's brains change when they're adolescents and that these changes make it more difficult for adults to learn a new language than for children.Now I’m going to move on to some example. First let’s take songbirds. A songbird learns to sing the first few months after it’s born by listening to its parents’ song and repeating it. The bird can only learn to do this when it’s a baby. Take another example-cats a kitten must learn to use its eyes in the first few weeks of its life. At first the cat can’t see very well. But over time, it begins to use its eyes however, if we remove all the light in the room so the cat grows up in the dark, it won’t be able to use its eyes. When the cat is an adult , it won’t be able to see well .5 Is TV an essential part in our daily life? Why? Do you agree that TV brings someproblems to our life? Then what problems could we have with watching TV? Nowadays, with the rapid social and economic development, television has become more and more popular in our daily life. we have to admit that TV has brought great changes to our life. Almost everyday, we watch all kinds of programs on TV. We need them as well as enjoy them. TV can amuse people, give us news and information we want ,and expand our horizons. .however, Every coin has two sides. The disadvantages are also obvious. Firstly spending too much time on it will affect our studies and work. Second, there are now too many commercials on TV, which would make us care more about money, and it’s not good for teenagers’ growth. Third, sitting in front of TV too long would do harm to our health. In a word ,the advantages of TV outweigh its disadvantages, we should watch TV in a reasonable way ,otherwise watching TV will destroy our lives.6What is genetically modified food? Do we need GM food? What do you think ofGM food?Genetically modified food is food-either a plant or animal--that has been altered in the laboratory by scientists. The scientists take something from one plant or animal, and add it to a different plant or animal to make it grow in a different way.I think we need GM food to enrich our diets. The benefits of GM food is self-evident. One benefit is that genetically modified plants may need fewer pesticides than normal plants. Another benefit of genetically modified plants is that they may grow better thannormal plants.. A third benefit is that many genetically modified food stay fresh longer after they are harvested. Every coin has two sides genetically modified food also have disadvantage One risk is that the GM plants may dominate the other wild plants in the environment. Another risk is that the genetically modified plants will hurt wild animals and insects in the environment. The most important risk is than they may be harmful to people who consume the food. In a word We should look upon the GM food rationally and exactly. That's all. Thank you.7What do you know about sleep disorder? What is insomnia? What are its symptoms? how can we improve our sleeping?Many people don't recognize that this is a serious health problem. However today, more and more doctors are becoming worried about it. In fact, some call it the biggest health problem today!the fact is that Most people today are deprived of sleep,Insomnia, is one of the most common type of sleep disorder. The symptoms can be illustrated in terms of the following aspects. It's difficult to fall asleep at night or get back to sleep after waking during the night. During the night, you may wake up frequently during the night. Your sleep feels light, fragmented, or unrefreshing. So you need to take some sleeping pills in order to get to sleep.Everyone needs a certain amount of sleep, our bodies need at least eight hours to function well .But most people don't get enough sleep. Many people have trouble waking up and getting out of bed in the morning .And a lot of us feel sleepy after lunch. We may feel it's normal to feel sleepy at those times. But really, it's an effect of not getting enough sleep That's all. Thank you!8 How important is negotiation in our life and work? Can you talk about any of your negotiating experience? What techniques did you use to negotiate? What was the result?Negotiation is important in our life and work. One of the most difficult issues in negotiation is when one side blames the other for something. And this is very common , when one side feels that the other did something wrong or caused the conflict in some way. I'll introduce a technique you can use to avoid blaming someone. This technique is called 'using I' statements. With this I statements, you avoid blaming the other person. You are explaining how you feel, how the problem affects youWhen a negotiation doesn't work, the problem is not usually the issues in the negotiation; most problems can be solved with enough time and communication So you need to avoid anything that will make people feel angry or upset. And using I statements is one way to develop that. That's all. Thank you!9How do you decide what is right and wrong? Do you think personal feelings, religious teachings, the law, ethical standards contribute to our decision?Generally speaking, when I decide to do sth or not to do sth, I often think it’s whether beneficial to me, other people or our country. I also think ethical standards can influence our decision. I believe ethical standards is the most important factor. I will use these ethical principles of ‘individual rights’ and ‘common good’ to analyze a situation and make my decision, on one hand ,we should respect other people’s right before make our decision. On the other hand ,we should obey the principle of common good that our decision is good for most people. However, when the two principles can’t realize at the same time. I will first choose the later principle That's all. Thank you!10. Talk about names, naming, good/bad names (Do people care about their names?How do people tend to name their children? Do you like your name?)Names are a cultural universal. Everyone has their names. A person's name can tell us a bit about a person's family. There are several ways parents choose the first name for their children.The first way is by family history. Parents may choose a name because it is passed from generation to generation. The second way parents choose a name is after a family member or friend who has died recently, or after someone they admire The third way is provide a “push” for the child. Parents want to choose a name that sounds very succefully...I like my name, because it was named by my parents and it has a profound meaning .zheng represents honesty, upright and far-minded. It encourges me to study and work hard in order to become a usefull person. That’s all thank you!。