新托福口语第四题预测真题
2012年01月21日 北美托福考试 口语真题
Question 4
Narrator: You will now read a short passage and then listen to a talk on the same academic topic. You will then be asked a question about them. After you hear the question, you will have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak.
Narrator: Begin reading now.

Reading Time: 45 Seconds

Mental Set

A mental set is a habit to try to solve problems in a certain way, whether that approach is the most suitable or not. Typically, someone with a mental set has found that a given approach has worked in the past and she or he tends to employ it without reflection in all future cases; however, the approach may not be the most effective way to deal with the current situation. Some researchers describe the problem as an exaggerated type of habit formation.

Narrator: Now hear a talk on the same subject.

Using information from the reading and the lecture, explain how the professor’s example of the mental set relates to the reading passage.

Preparation Time: 30 Seconds

Response Time: 60 Seconds

回答详解

Note-taking笔记

Reading

(Topic)

mental set

Listening

(Example)

prf’s rmt (roommate) Peter →tp wtr →assign~

×cvnt (convenient) & slw

if msk (mistake), again

prf →Peter →cmpt, but still tp wtr ∵mental set

Paraphrasing 笔记转述

Reading

(Topic)

l  mental set

The reading passage is about mental sets.

Listening

(Example)

l  prf’s rmt (roommate) Peter →tp wtr (typewriter) →assign~

The professor’s roommate Peter used a typewriter to do his assignments.

l  × cvnt (convenient) & slw

The typewriter is not very convenient and is slow.

l  if msk (mistake), again

Once you make a mistake, you have to type everything again.

l  prf →Peter →cmp, but still tp wtr ∵mental set

The professor suggested Peter use a computer, but Peter still used a typewriter due to a mental set.

Sample Response 参考答案

Topic

The reading passage is about mental sets, and the example the professor gives to explain this concept is his roommate’s behavior.

Example

The professor says that Peter persisted in using a typewriter to do his assignments despite the fact that such a machine isboth slower and more inconvenient than a computer. Once you make a mistake, you have to type everything all over again. The professor suggested Peter use a computer, but he was stubborn and still used a typewriter to do his research paper due to a mental set. So he wasn’t as efficient as he could have been because he was set in his ways.
实用表达课堂
persist in doing 坚持做… Once..., you have to... 一旦…，就必须…
常远老师提示
both… and…
普通表达：Such a machine is slower and more inconvenient than a computer.
高分表达：Such a machine is both slower and more inconvenient than a computer.
中国学生往往不会习惯性地在slower and more inconvenient 这样的表达前面加both，而加上这一个小词，口语听起来会更加地道。
听力原文
[Lecture]
This week then, we’ll be talking about mental sets. Let me emphasize something: a mental set does not necessarily mean you’re mentally ill. But it usually does mean you’re not nearly as efficient as you might want to be. Let me give you an example.
A few years ago when I was still in grad school I had a roommate named Peter. He insisted he could only write his papers on a typewriter. Maybe he was afraid of technology. But, as you may have heard, a typewriter is slow and inconvenient. Once you make a mistake, you have to pause, use correction fluid and wait for it to dry. Or, if it’s late at night and you run out of fluid, you have to type the whole page again.
Both myself and his professors told Peter: use a computer! It’s faster, and it’s easier. It’ll save his time and it’s easy to operate. But until the day he finished school, he never gave up that typewriter. Maybe he still uses it. And why? Because of some fixed idea, a mental set, that there’s only the one way he can do the task.
 
《常远新托福口语真经——年度最新预测真题》（含MP3光盘一张）
 作者：常远
 出版社：外语教学与研究出版社
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 版次：2013年5月1版1次印刷
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注：本文内容节选于《常远新托福口语真经——年度最新预测真题》一书。本书由外语教学与研究出版社出版，沪江英语授权转载部分内容。