雅思口语解析Part3：Science and Technology

　　雅思口语Part 3- Science and Technology

　　Science and Technology一直是雅思口语话题里的常客，经历了魔幻的2020之后，你还能想象回到没有科技的世界么?几年前的《黑镜》给我们描绘了“只有你想不到，没有科技做不到”的时空，各位烤鸭如果感觉提到科技话题无话可聊，那就去这部英剧里找找灵感吧!

　　雅思口语在Part 3经常聊到科技对我们生活和工作的影响，今天我们就分别来聊一聊：

　　Let’s talk about technology at home.

　　首先看看科技在家里的角色：

　　1. What items of technology are most popular in China? (and Why?)

　　Well, first of all, Wi-Fi has become indispensable in every family, I mean, whenever you visit a friend at their place, maybe the first thing you do is asking for the password. Besides, we can’t live without laptops or tablets, especially for young people, whether it’s for work or entertainment. Oh, and in recent years, fingerprint door locks have hit the streets, ‘cos it can save us the trouble of taking our keys, you know, many people have made the mistake of leaving their keys at home and locking themselves out.

　　加分表达解析：

　　indispensable = too important to be without = can’t live without

　　想说“重要”，一定不要只记得important，记住这俩表达，以备不时之需。

　　举例：

　　Cars have become an indispensable part of our lives.

　　These people can't live without the Internet—it's up there with air and water.

　　place = a house or flat / apartment; a person’s home

　　place在口语里不光指“地方”哦!

　　举例：

　　What about dinner at my place?

　　I’m fed up with living with my parents, so I’m looking for a place of my own.

　　hit the streets = to become widely available for sale

　　想表达“很有市场、哪里都有卖”，用这个短语就没错了，绝对加分!还可以说hit the shops / stores.

　　2. What problems do some people have when using technology? (Why?)

　　Um… some elderly people might not be familiar with the modern technology and they tend to have difficulty learning new stuff. They don’t know how to operate or handle some devices. Plus, some senior citizens have never learned how to type, so maybe surfing the Internet can also be a big problem for them. And to be honest, the Internet is not always a safe place, I mean, I’ve heard of countless Internet scams on the news, and that’s why some people have “trust issues” with this technology.

　　加分表达解析：

　　senior citizen = an older person, especially somebody who has retired from work.

　　当我们想避免说old这个词的时候，上面的表达是个非常好的替换。同理，elderly也是old的礼貌说法。

　　3. Does technology at home make us lazy? (How?)

　　To some extent, yeah. For example, automatic vacuum cleaners can help us sweep the floor faster and cleaner, so there’s no need for us to do it by ourselves. And in the past, we had to do the dishes by hand, but now dishwashers can take care of everything. And with the advent of home theater, some people tend to go out to the movies less and less, ‘cos they can enjoy the similar atmosphere comfortably at home.

　　加分表达解析：

　　the advent of something / somebody = the coming of an important event, person, invention, etc.

　　举例：

　　That changed dramatically with the advent of air conditioning.

　　Let’s talk about technology at work

　　下面再看看科技在工作中的角色：

　　1. How has technology changed the way people work?

　　First of all, technology has dramatically made our work easier, for example, in the past, people had to go on business trips, but now, videoconferencing has saved them the trouble. And when we want to contact our boss or coworkers, we can send them emails or just simply Facetime. And also, in some places and industries, machines have replaced human labor, for example, there used to be laundry workers in the past, but now, the name of the job just sounds ancient, I mean, outdated.

　　加分表达解析：

　　dramatically = (of a change, an event, etc.) sudden, very great and often surprising

　　形容“变化大”就请把它用起来吧!

　　举例：

　　Prices have increased dramatically in the last few years.

　　2. Has technology given working people more free time? (Why/Why not?)

　　Um… not really, if you ask me. I mean, I admit technology has saved us a lot of time, because it provides a more efficient way for us to communicate and stuff. However, it also makes the boundary between work and personal time blurry. I mean, in the past, when technology was not that advanced, we could enjoy our time after work completely, without worrying about being disturbed by the stuff at work, but now, things are different, our boss, our coworkers and clients can find us whenever they want no matter where we are, as long as we have Internet access or cell phone reception, which means, we have to sacrifice some of our free time to deal with the work stuff.

　　加分表达解析：

　　and stuff = used when you do not want to complete a list

　　当我们想说“…啥的” “诸如此类”，就可以用这个表达，或者也可以说and things (like that)。

　　举例：

　　I like reading and stuff.

　　She likes nice clothes and things like that.

　　3. What can be done to help people whose jobs are being replaced by technology?

　　For starters, training courses are necessary, they can be trained to master some new skills or they can simply learn how to use the machine. Although some jobs are disappearing, there are new job opportunities being created all the time because of the fast development of technology. They always say, in this day and age, some of the highly paid jobs didn’t even exist 5 years ago. In order to avoid being left behind by the society, it’s critical for them to get the hang of the up-to-the-minute technology.

　　加分表达解析：

　　For starters = used to emphasize the first of a list of reasons, opinions, etc, or to say what happens first.

　　列单子不要一开始只会用first! 一场考试下来我们可能要make挺多list，别忘了换着花样开头哦!

　　举例：

　　There are a number of problems—for starters, where is the money coming from?

　　leave behind = [usually passive] to make much better progress than somebody

　　这个经常用做被动形式表示“被落下”，举例：

　　Britain is being left behind in the race for new markets.

　　get the hang of something = to learn how to do or to use something; to understand something.

　　“学习并掌握某种技能”不要只记得study或者learn哦!

　　举例：

　　It’s not difficult once you get the hang of it.

　　I can’t seem to get the hang of this game.

　　up-to-the-minute = having or including the most recent / modern; fashionable

　　还有什么能比它更形象的表示“最新、最时尚”呢!

　　举例：

　　up-to-the-minute news

　　up-to-the-minute designs