1、全国英语专业四级口语考试仍然采用录音口试，将于笔试一至二周后举行。根据大纲要求，口试内容将分解为三项：（1） 复述故事（听两遍故事后复述3分种）；（2） 即席讲话（根据所给的题目准备3分钟后，作即席讲话3分钟）；（3） 对话（根据规定的角色各自准备3分钟后，对话4分钟）。2001年Task1: Retelling a storyI once knew an old man whose bad memory made him famous. John Smith was so forgetful that he sometimes forget what he was talking about
2、 in the middle of a sentence. His wife had to constantly remind him about his meetings, his classes even his meals! Once he forgot he had eaten breakfast twice, at home and at school. His wife liked to remind her neighbors, “If John didnt have his head tied on. He would forget that too!” Since Smith
3、 was a professor at a well-known university, his forgetfulness was often an embarrassment. It wasnt that he was not clever, as some critical people tended to say, but just very, very absent-minded.One hot summer day, Professor Smith decided to take his children to a seaside town about a three-hour t
4、rain ride away. To make the trip more interesting for his young children, he kept the name of the town a secret. However, by the time they arrived at the station, Smith forgot the name of the town he was planning to visit. Luckily, a friend of his happened to be in the station. He offered to take ca
5、re of the children while Smith hurried back home to find out where he was going.The professors wife was surprised to see him again so soon. “Oh, my dear, I forgot the name the town.” “What? You forgot the name? Maybe one day you will forget my name! Now Ill write the name of that town on a piece of
6、paper, and you put it in your pocket and please, please dont forget where you put it.”Satisfied that she had solved the problem, she sent her husband off again. Ten minutes later she was astonished to see him outside the house for the third time.“What is the matter now?”“As you told me, I didnt forg
7、et where I put the name of that town, but I forgot where I left our children!”Task2: Talking on a given topicDirections: Describe a teacher of yours whom you find unusual.Task3: Role-playingDirections: Many high school graduates in China are going overseas for their college education. A friend of yo
8、urs is graduating this year and would like to ask for your advice on whether it is a good idea for a high school graduate to go abroad to study.Student A: You think this friend should go by all means, and you should try to convince your partner. Remember you should start the conversation.Student B:
9、You think this friend should finish college in China before thinking about going abroad, and you should try to convince your partner. Remember your partner will start the conversation.2002:Task1: Retelling a story Whenever Mr. Smith goes to Westgate, he stays at the Grand Hotel. In spite of its name
10、, it is really not very “grand,” but it is cheap, clean, and comfortable. Since he knows the manger well, he never has to go to the trouble of reserving a room. The fact is that he always gets the same room. It is situated at the far end of the building and overlooks a beautiful bay. On his last vis
11、it, Mr. Smith was told that he could have his usual room, but the manager added apologetically that it might be a little noisy. So great was the demand for rooms, the manager said, that the hotel had decided to build a new wing. Mr. Smith said he did not mind. It amused him to think that the dear ol
12、d Grand Hotel was making an effort to live up to its name. During the first day Mr. Smith hardly noticed the noise at all. The room was a little dusty, but that was natural. The following afternoon, he borrowed a book from the hotel library and went upstairs to read. No sooner had he sat down than h
13、e heard someone hammering loudly at the wall. At first he paid no attention, but after a while he began to feel very uncomfortable. His clothes were slowly being covered with fine white powder. Soon there was so much dust in the room that he began to cough. The hammering was now louder than ever and
14、 bits of plaster were coming away from the walls. It looked as though the whole building was going to fall. Mr. Smith went immediately to complain to the manager. They both returned to the room, but everything was very quiet. As they stood there looking at each other, Mr. Smith felt rather embarrass
15、ed for having dragged the manager all the way up the stairs for nothing. All of a sudden, the hammering began again and a large brick landed on the floor. Looking up, they saw a sharp metal tool had forced its way through the wall, making a very large hole right above the bed!Task2: Talking on a giv
16、en topicDirection: Describe an embarrassing situation in which you got very angry.Task3: Role-playingDirections: The geology department of a major university is planning to admit 30 male and 5 female students. However, the results of the college entrance examination show that by average, of all the
17、applicants, females have scored higher than most males. Should the department stick to its original plan?Student A: You think the department should still stick to the original plan, and you should try to convince your partner. Remember you should start the conversation.Student B: You dont think the
18、department should stick to the original plan, and you should try to convince your partner. Remember your partner will start the conversation.2003Task1: Retelling a story Just as Jane was joyfully expecting her first child, her active, energetic mother began losing her battle with a brain disease. Fo
19、r ten years, the fiercely independent and courageous mother had fought, but none of the surgeries or treatments had been successful. At only fifty-five, she became totally disabled- unable to speak, walk, eat or dress on her own. As the mother grew closer and closer to death, the baby grew closer an
20、d closer to life. Jane was afraid that her mother and her baby would never know each other. Her fear seemed well-founded. A few weeks before her due date, her mother lapsed into a deep coma. The doctors did not hold any hope. It was useless to put in a feeding tube, they said, for Mother would never
21、 awaken. So Jane brought Mother to her own bed in her own house. As often as she could, she sat beside her mother, talking about the baby moving inside her. On February 3, 1989, at about the same time Jane began to feel birth pains, Mother opened her eyes. Jane called home. “Mom, listen. My baby is
22、coming! Youre going to have a new grandchild. Do you understand!” “Yes,” Mother answered. What a wonderful word! The first clear word shed spoken in months. By the time Jane brought her son home, her mother was sitting in her chair, dressed and ready to welcome the baby. For two weeks, Mother clucke
23、d, smiled and held the new-born baby. Then she quietly became unconscious and, after visits from all her children, was finally free of the pain. For Jane, memories of her sons birth will always be bittersweet, but it was at this time that she learned an important truth about living. While both joy a
24、nd sorrow pass quickly, and often come together at the same time, love has the power to overcome both. And love can last forever.Task II: Talking on a given topicDirections: Tell a story that illustrates the need for loveTask III: Role-playingStudent A: You will be traveling later this week and you
25、are wondering about the advantages and safety of flying. Recent news reports of air crashes have made you nervous and you cannot decide if it is safe to travel by airplane. You turn to your friend for advice about whether you should go by air or by train. He/she tried to persuade you to take a fligh
26、t by listing some advantages. Eventually you refuse to accept his/her opinion and make your own decision. Student B: One of your friends is taking a trip later this week and he/she is undecided about whether to travel by air or by train. Not knowing what to do, your friend comes to you for advice. Y
27、ou try to persuade your friend to take a flight in spite of reports of air crashes. Eventually, you fail to convince him/her and your friend buys a train ticket instead. 2004:Task1: Retelling a story When she was 22 years old Pat Jones decided that she wanted to travel around the world and see as ma
28、ny foreign places as she could while she was young. When she finished college at home in Britain, Pat chose to visit Latin America first, so she managed to get a job as an English teacher in a secondary school in Bolivia. Pat spoke a little Spanish, so she was able to communicate with her students e
29、ven though they did not know much English. A sentence she had once read somewhere stuck in her mind: if you dream in a foreign language, it means that you have really mastered it. Pat repeated this sentence to her students and she hoped that someday she would dream in Spanish and they would dream in
30、 English. One day, Tim, one of the worst students in her class, came up to her and explained in Spanish that he had not done his homework. He said that he had gone to bed early and had slept badly. Pat was quite angry with him, for she did not think that his explanation had anything to do with his h
31、omework. But Tim told her that he dreamed all night and his dream was in English. “In English!” Pat thought. She was greatly surprised, since Tim was such a bad student. She was also secretly jealous. Her dreams were still not in Spanish, but she decided to encourage her student and asked him to tel
32、l her about his dream. “All the people in my dream spoke English,” Tim said. “And all the signs were in English. All the newspapers and magazines and all the TV programs were in English.” “But thats wonderful,” said Pat. “What did all the people say to you?” she asked. “Im sorry. Miss Jones, Thats why I slept so badly all
