1.

Describe a kind of traditional costume in your country, which is not

quite commonly followed now

I would like to talk about cheongsam, a kind of body hugging, one piece

traditional dress for women, it is usually made of silk, with exquisite

phoenix and delicate flower patterns like peony, orchid and

chrysanthemum, Originally, cheongsam was created in the 1920s

Shanghai for upper class women to replace those baggy and loose

dresses, now ordinary women can afford it, they wear it mainly on

special occasions like parties or ceremonies. I think it is really unique

and traditional, coz it represents the unique beauty of the oriental

women.

2. Which period do you think is most challenging: childhood, teenager

or adulthood?

I would say the toughest period during one's life is adulthood. Not like

the childhood, we are pursuing our degrees in universities or already

doing a job to make a living. In school, we are constantly under lots of

pressures; the assignments like problem sets, presentations, and research

papers are killing us. After graduation, we have to fulfill all kinds of

responsibilities as a professional. On the other hand, being a child or an

adolescent is much easier; they just have fun and do not have to worry

about anything.

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3. Choose an accomplishment that required you to work very hard.

Explain what the accomplishment was and why it was important to

you.

When it comes to the proud accomplishment I have ever made, I would

have to mention the improvement of my English speaking.

You know, since I want to further my study in America, I need to enhance

my language ability; it’s definitely not an easy task.

For e.g. I got up early every day to do the morning reading, corrected my

pronunciation and intonation day by day, trying to exercise my oral

muscles.

However, the most difficult part lies in the difference in ways of building

sentences; sometimes I even needed to think in English to develop my

mind. I utilized all my odd moments, studied diligently. Finally, all my

efforts paid off. I got a content grade in the test, and have the chance to

pursue my dream.

4. Describe a place you enjoyed going to when you were a child.

Explain why.

When I was a kid, I enjoyed going to the central park near my home. It’s

pretty small but performed multiple functions for the community.

The space of the park was efficiently used for people to do various

activities, I remember there was a plaza where the elders could dance

and play traditional musical instruments, such as Erhu and accordion.

sports.

However, my favorite area was the woods, because it was quiet for me to

draw pictures there after school. The various plants fascinated me and

it’s more than interesting to just learn about their names.

5. Describe a traditional festival in your country.

I have to say the most important festival in China is the Spring Festival

when family members get together after the hard work of a whole year.

On the New Year’s Eve, people paste spring festival paper scrolls on both

sides of the door. It’s criminal not cooking a sensational feast with

dumplings and fish, because dumplings represent good luck and fish

means plentiful. There are some traditional rules you have to observe

carefully, like no medicine, no haircut, and no sweep on the first day of

the New Year. The Spring Festival vacation lasts for nearly half a month

during which people attend various celebrating activities, such as dragon

dances, galas, temple fairs and so forth.

6. When traveling, which of the following will you choose?

1) Walking on the street

2) Taking an organized trip

3) Visiting museum

Well, I will choose walking on the street, cuz it’s such an easy and direct
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way to understand the life style of the local people. I like to observe

different people, like the idle store owners, the commuters rushing into

the work sites, the taxi drivers, the house wives carrying the laundries.

The way they talk to each other, the mood they are in, I can capture and

keep them in my camera when walking on the street.

This way comes so many accidental encounters and inspirations that I’m

not prepared for, so the journeys are always full of surprises.

7. Do you agree or disagree with: university students should be

encouraged to study in majors more needed in the job market, like

science, technology, engineering, and math, rather than study in the

fields that they are interested in.

I strongly disagree with the statement. Just because students need to find

a job doesn’t mean they are money-making machines, on the contrary,

they are human beings who need to find where their interests lie in and

what their true love is. Where there is passion, there comes success! For

example, I used to persuade myself to learn finance just because I

thought it’s promising, but I barely stayed awake in all the classes, and I

felt less motivated to study, finally I gave up, and turned to the subjects I

truly love, that is literature. Although it’s hard to find a job but there are

still some opportunities and I think I will be happy.

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8. Which characteristic do you think is the most important for the high

school teachers?

1) The ability to give advice about planning for future.

2) The ability to recognize students that need help.

3) The ability to encourage students to learn outside of the classroom

by themselves.

I think the high school teachers definitely should possess the ability to

spot out students in trouble. High school students are different from

university students who are confused about their future; they are more

sensitive to the environment and at a crucial point of life, they are easy to

be bullied, lose confidence, and their world values are not mature

enough to resist temptations from outside world, so they are more likely

to become misfits, and gave up on themselves based on stupid reasons. If

teachers can’t recognize them immediately, they will fall out, which will

cause damage to their entire life.

9. Competition between friends usually negatively impacts friendships.

I agree with this statement, because I saw how this played out in my own

life. Once a time, my close friend and I were in a competition for an

English public speaking prize, the winner would have the chance to go to

Canada as an exchange student. We both wanted to win, so during the

time period when we were doing the preparations, we shut each other
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out, but the time before that we usually hung out together and discussed

challenging questions together. Finally I won, my friend congratulated

me, but after that we were not as intimate as we had been, there is a

crack existing in our friendship, and it’s irreparable.

10. Do you agree or disagree with: parents should express their

disagreement to the teachers if they find the teaching method

incorrect.

I don’t think so. First, parents are usually wrong about teaching method

because they can’t be objective about their children; their unconditional

love clouds their judgments, also spoils their children, so when they say

the teaching method is incorrect, it’s possible they misunderstand

education actually. Second, challenging teachers will undermine the

authority of school, making students confused about who they should

follow. Corrupting teachers ‘authority is dangerous, because that will

cause students to be out of control, getting harder and harder to

discipline. Finally, that will also cause conflicts between parents and

teachers, spread mistrust among parents, and then destroy the

education system.

11. Do you agree or disagree with: a team leader needs to admit his or

her mistakes.
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I think it is right, when making mistakes, a leader should admit , because

he or she is responsible for the whole teamwork, he or she should make

sure the team is heading towards the right direction. Imagine what will

happen if a team leader makes mistakes and then denies it? Other team

members will follow because they fear losing the job if they don’t stand

by the leader, as a result, wrong decisions will be made, and cause great

damage to the work. Besides, admitting mistakes is not a shame, on the

contrary, it’s the demonstration of a sense of responsibility, and it won’t

hurt the authority of the leader, but strengthen it, people will put more

trust in the leader.

12. Do you agree or disagree with: the most important investment for a

company is improving the working ability of its employees?

I think it’s wrong. There is always an upper limit of the working ability of

the employees under certain working condition, so what is beyond that?

I think the most important investment for a company is developing

advanced technology and drawing up business strategy. For example,

some big companies like Microsoft and Google spend huge amount of

money on the research in artificial intelligence and robots, since the

traditional business they rely on will shrink in the future, in order to make

sure they will still play the leading role in the future market, seeing the

whole picture is more important than just focusing on the current

13. Do you agree or disagree with: governments should spend money

on building modern architectures rather than persevering historical

buildings.

I think the government should spend money on preserving historical

buildings, because modern architectures are all the same in every

country: you know those skyscrapers, shining glass buildings, we can see

them in Tokyo, in Dubai, but what makes a country special? The local

culture, and the historical architectures are the only thing that can

symbolize the local culture, they are the name cards of an ancient

country through which people living there can identify with each other,

share common memories. So preserving historical buildings can help

attract tourists, thereby bringing financial benefits, also will help spread

culture to people from other countries.

14. In the past people were more interested in improving their

neighborhoods than they are today.

I agree with this statement. In the past there are less high buildings in

the city and people lived in a relatively open community where they

needed to share a lot of common responsibilities, like keep the

environment clean, planting trees or flowers, raising money to establish

now, the life pace is fast and there is no time for the community activities

and also no need, because the responsibilities of improving the

neighborhoods are outsourced and taken by big companies specializing

in the resident service. People pay money for the company to do the job

and enjoy their private life, and spend more time pursuing personal

interests.

15. Which of the following places do you think is the most challenging

to work at: the museum, hospital, or business office? Explain why.

Please include details and examples in your explanation.

I think hospital is the most challenging place to work at, because I fear

seeing blood and injured people, it’s terrifying for me, and there is a

chance that I may pass out. Besides, working at hospital requires medical

expertise; one should know what to do for the first-aid, what to do to

save people’s lives, it’s complicated and only medical care majors with

years hands-on experience can handle it. It’s stressful, and people’s lives

are at stake! Comparing with this, the museum work or dealing some

paper work in a business office sounds like just a piece of cake!

16. Which of the following skills would you like to learn: cooking,
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photography or web design? Explain why. Please include details and

examples in your explanation.

I will choose web design, because nowadays, internet and computer skills

are everything. You want to make more new friends and contact people

all around the world, you need a website; you want to sell more products

and reboot your business, you need a website, you want to start your

own company, the most cost-effective way is also to build up a website.

Websites has become the most useful tool to help connect you and the

world. Besides, I’m really into computer programming, and think it is a

promising field, so I think web design will be helpful. As for cooking and

photography, they are so everyday, everyone can make great pictures

with cellphones, or can cook delicious food with recipes obtained from

the internet.

17. Which of the following occupations do you consider the most

important for the city, a policeman, a public transportation worker, or a

building designer? Please include specific examples and details in your

explanation.

I will choose the building designer, because the design of the building

decides the efficiency of the usage of space, and also decides people’s life

styles. Are they living in a community where people can easily make

contact to the nature, or are they living in an isolated space that provides
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more privacy? It’s crucial. Recently I read a book that some communities

housing young people are designed to be divided into various areas

based on the residents’ common interests, and different buildings have

unique and special outside look. For instance, there is a wildly-colored

building with many young musicians living inside, it’s groundbreaking

and amazing!

18. Your community center now offers classes on the weekends for free.

Which of the following class will you choose to take: a financial course

to help you manage money, car maintenance and repair, or review of

Latin-American music?

I will choose the car repair. You know, automobiles play a key role in

people’s life, without a car, you can go nowhere. Especially in America,

people are actually dependent on cars for transportation. So imagine if

the car breaks down halfway and I totally have no idea of what is

happening, it will be a disaster, I will be trapped on the way and no one

can help me, when the nightfall comes, it could be dangerous! So I think

car repair is an essential skill. What’s more, as a girl, I think it’s cool for

me to learn mechanics, it can add some charm to me.

19. Do you agree or disagree with following statement? If you want to

succeed in business being outgoing and friendly is very important.

be sociable. For whatever business people like, marketing manager, sales

manager, and even Chief Executive Officer need to be friendly, since it can

broaden their social connection. Sociable business people attend many

social activities, like marketing events, expositions, charity activities,

thus, getting to know more business partners, potential clients.

Additionally, social people tend to break the ice and build rapport, and

therefore, it is more likely to close business deal.

20. You are admitted to two universities at the same time. One is

prestigious but has a high tuition and the other is not but gives you a

scholarship. Which would you go to and why?

Of course I will choose the prestigious one, because having a good

reputation means it has high academic credentials, and center the most

brilliant minds. In such a great studying environment, I will absorb the

cutting-edge knowledge and enrich myself with innovative ideas. After

graduation, a bachelor degree from a prestigious university will be

respected and appreciated, thus ensures me a promising future on the

job market. As for the expensive tuition, I think it’s worthy of it, I can

apply for a student loan or work part-time on campus, which is also a

good opportunity to push my boundaries and a good way to solve the

financial problem.
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21. Which do you prefer? Educational programs or entertainment

programs on TV?

Well, I would prefer watching educational programs on TV. Coz first they

satisfy my curiosity. I am a big fan of many natural science subjects, like

astronomy, geology, physics, and biology, every time when I am watching

those educational programs like National Geography or BBC Planet

Earth, I learn so much, which really help to expand my horizons. Second,

as a student, I have been quite busy every day, like I have to take classes

like 8 hours a day and deal with endless presentations, school work and

club activities etc, so listening to music is my way to unwind and blow off

steam, coz I barely have time for entertainment programs on TV, be it

soap operas or reality show.

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