2020年9-12月雅思口语part2&3答案解析：改变一个重要决定

　　2020年9-12月雅思口语part2&3答案解析：改变一个重要决定

　　Describe an experience when you changed your opinion.

　　You should say:

　　When it was

　　What your original choice was

　　Why you changed it

　　And explain how you felt about it

　　This is a curious question, because, in fact, there are a few times when I changed my opinion about things. The time that really sticks in mind is when I went to the USA on a trip. But, first, let me give you the background: most of my life I thought that American food was just fast food and junk food like burgers and fries and coca cola and things like this, perhaps also pizza and other similar types of food. I really thought that most westerners, and indeed Americans in particular, only really ate this kind of food – you know, that it was their main diet. Also, because so many Americans are so fat. Some are really enormous. I really was convinced that western food only really consisted of unhealthy burgers and fries and junk food. I think most of my friends and peers always thought the same, and maybe many of them still do. Well, anyway, I went to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle on a month-long trip to the USA. In fact, it was a work trip - you see, I’m a computer programmer and I have a job with Baidu and I work part of the time in Shangdi, in Beijing, in the head office, and a few months a year in the US. Anyway, the time I’m talking about was my first trip to the USA. So, I went with this conception in my mind that the food would be all junk food and I was convinced about my opinion being correct. I’d never thought otherwise. It was to my great surprise when I arrived in New York City, that I found a lot of my American co-workers dining in a wide variety of restaurants and eateries. Not all fancy or expensive, either. I realized very quickly that there is a massive range of different foods in the USA, and most people don’t actually eat or order burgers and fries at all – or maybe only when they’re in a rush and need a quick take-out to go back to the office. Even in Grand Central Station there is an Oyster Bar and loads of seafood stalls and restaurants – I honestly couldn’t believe it! And that’s only a railway station! People were eating lobsters and salads and Israeli food and all sorts of middle eastern dishes that are really healthy too! Comparing that with the pot noodles and KFC at Beijing railway stations, I started to challenge my preconception about Americans and their attitude to food. I then realized that my idea that all Americans and all Westerners ate junk food, was a sweeping generalization. And, therefore, I changed my opinion.

　　Part3

　　1. Who do young people turn to for advice?

　　Are there any issues that people should be careful when giving advice?

　　When giving advice people should sometimes be quite careful. Firstly, they must consider the kind of advice they are giving and how the listener will feel about it. Not everyone enjoys getting advice, or even wants advice from others. Sometimes people don’t want to hear the advice you want to give them, and it can even upset or annoy them. So, you have to carefully consider the person you’re giving advice to and how they might receive the advice. Another issue is how you give the advice – this is where it’s important to learn to be diplomatic, to think carefully about the different perspectives that need to be considered, and make sure you deliver your advice in a careful way that will make the other person feel encouraged, rather than discouraged.

　　2. Do people like giving opinions on politics?

　　It depends what people you’re talking about. Usually, I think Chinese people, and perhaps Asians in general, don’t really talk about politics much at work, or in public. I think there is a tendency amongst Asian people to not want to raise issues of a very serious and possibly contentious nature in public, unless they are with close friends. However, when you look at Europeans and Americans, you find they very openly discuss politics in the office, over dinners, in public and everywhere, and often disagree with each other about their personal political stances and opinions. This seems to be more part of Western culture than ours.