【英语：基础高阶_全场景覆盖表达】K11.口语主题陈述——事物类

1.事物类

1.1.DESCRIBING OBJECTS

When it comes to questions that ask you to describe objects or items you own, such as electronic gadgets, clothes, presents or even vehicles.

For example:

• Describe a piece of furniture in your home
• Describe a useful piece of electrical equipment (besides a computer) that you use
• Describe a thing you own that you want to replace

1.2.USE CAUSATIVE VERBS

Causative verbs include helps – makes – lets – gives – keeps.
Causative verbs are used to describe how one ‘agent’ is affecting or causing an action in another ‘agent’.
Causative verbs can be used for everything, from food to phones, so they are a great choice no matter what the question is.
It’s easy to include them in sentences. Here is a common and flexible sentence structure:
Subject + helps / makes / lets / gives / keeps+ object + bare infinitive verb(省略to的动词不定式)

My DSLR camera lets me take amazing pictures of my friends and family when we go on holiday together.
My new smartphone helps me keep in touch with my friends no matter where I am in the world.
The website gives me useful exercises and useful tips about English.
The pull-out sofa makes it really easy to for me to host friends and guests.

1.3.USE SPECIFIC VOCABULARY

It’s time to show off your vocabulary skills.
Doing some research about some items, gadgets or objects you own will help you a lot in the real speaking test. One great source of technical and specific vocabulary is Amazon.com. Find a product (or a similar one) you own, scroll down and you will see plenty of specific details and words.

For a smartphone:
My phone comes with an almost 6-inch screen, so it’s quite big and perfect for videos and game. There are two cameras, one is 13 megapixels, while the selfie camera is about half the strength, but it’s still really clear and powerful. The design is rounded-edge and elegant, so it’s quite comfortable too. It can also connect to two Bluetooth devices at the same time.

For a TV:
My TV has an awesome UHD(Ultra High Definition) display, so it looks great from every angle and the quality is fantastic. It also has a feature called AI ThinQ, which apparently listens and gives me answer if I ask it questions with my voice. The sound quality is also very high, because it can create 7 virtual channels, so it’s like watching a movie in the cinema. And the screen lets me see every image in vivid, rich and life-like colors.

For a sofa:
My sofa is an 1-shaped piece of furniture, so it fits perfectly in my living room because it’s quite small. The materials is chunky linen style fabric which is very comfortable and easy to clean. It came in a flat-pack, but it was quick and easy to assemble with myself and my roommate.

1.4.GET PHYSICAL

What do you physically do with these objects? This means you should try to use a lot of verbs to describe exactly what you can accomplish with a camera, a phone, a piece of furniture, a book or a website. This also allows you to demonstrate your knowledge of correct collocations.

For example:
I love taking pictures with my Nikon camera and showing them to my friends on social media. They all say the quality is amazing.
I really like sitting on my sofa after a long day at work to relax and watch TV with my wife and kids."
My friends like coming over and having movie-parties, where we watch films on the big tv screen, eat snacks and enjoy the film.
I’m always reading articles about politics and news on that website. I think the journalists write excellent stories about current events and highlight important social issues.

1.5.VOCABULARY: BUYING THINGS

To buy

• to purchase (formal)
• to pick up (informal)

Cheap (adj.)

• inexpensive
• low-priced goods / food
• affordable goods / clothes

Expensive (adj.)

• dear
• costly

a shop (n.) = a store (n.)

• To shop (v.)
• To shop for clothes / food
• To shop around = to look for the best price
• To do the weekly shop / shopping = buy food for the whole week
• To go shopping for clothes / food

1.6.COLLOCATIONS

A shopping mall / center
To go window shopping = look in shops without buying
A High-street shop (baker’s, butcher’s newsagents…)
A Corner shop
Retail shops = shops that sells to customers
Wholesale shops = sells to businesses/shops
A One-stop shop = one shop that sells everything you need
To shop till you drop = to shop for hours

It’s also become a prime destination for visitors to shop’ till you drop.

1.7.PHRASAL VERBS

• To pay for = to buy
  Can I pay for this with cash?
• To sell out = to have no more stock
  They have sold out of those lovely cupcakes.
• To set someone back = to cost (someone an amount of money)
  It set me back about 20 USD.
• To splash out = to spend a lot of money
  I like to splash out on new clothes in the Spring sales.

1.8.DISCUSSIONS ABOUT SHOPPING

Enjoying Shopping
I love browsing shops = going from shop to shop
I’m an impulsive shopper = I buy things whenever I feel like it, without planning
I’m a shopaholic = I am (almost) addicted to shopping
I like to window shop, as I don’t have much money to spend on clothes.
I like to see all the different things on display.

1.9.DISCUSSIONS ABOUT SHOPPING

Aisle (n.) – passageway, corridor (in a shop, church, airplane…)
I like to walk along the aisles in my local supermarket.
The snack aisle is my favorite.
My local supermarket gives us coupons or vouchers that offer discounts to incentivize (=motivate) us shop more
Adverts(=advertisement) are ever-more (=increasingly) cunning (clever) and attractive.
The adverts grab my attention / capture my attention
A brick-and-mortar(实体的) shop = a physical shop

1.10.ONLINE SHOPPING: A GOOD OR A BAD THING?

Bad Things

• It’s an inevitable thing
• It’s a shame that so many physical shops are disappearing.
• Unfortunately, we lose the personal touch of chatting and socializing with other shoppers and shop assistants when we shop online.
• It’s not a good thing as we don’t know which sites to trust.
• I am always wary (=careful with) of online payments, I mean you hear of so many scams (=dishonest attempts to get your money),
• so is it really safe and secure?
• So many companies are going out of business due to COVID.

All of the following mean “to go out of business”

• To close down
• To go into liquidation (清算)
• To go bankrupt
• To go belly up

Good Things
The rise of online shopping means we can buy things from anywhere in the world, at the click of a button (=immediately)
Online shopping makes the purchase of most things much easier and more convenient.
Online shopping has been a lifesaver during COVID. It’s easy to get anything, even everyday essentials like food and drinks.

1.11.ONLINE VERSUS OFFLINE SHOPPING

• I prefer ____
• I lean towards _____ (=I like/prefer)
• Online shopping saves time. It saves a ton of time.
• It depends on what I am buying.
• I like physical shopping because I can try stuff on. (Clothes)
• I like physical shopping because I can try stuff out. (Electronic things)
• I can actually touch the products if I am in a real shop.

1.12.COLLOCATIONS RELATED TO CITIES

Online shopping is much more practical and the delivery is usually pretty quick.

With the rise of companies like Jingdong, online delivery is very fast nowadays.

Online shopping is fun, if you like opening boxes.

I shop online for clothes a lot, but you never know if the size is going to fit, so there is always a bit of a risk.

Despite the convenience that comes with online shopping I still prefer offline shopping as it enables me to inspect my goods before paying.

1.13.IDIOMS

My new bike cost an arm and a leg = to be expensive
I paid over the odds(买贵了) for it = I paid too much
A lot of consumers end up paying over the odds to get the newest smartphones.
It was going for a song = it’s cheap
Wow, I can’t believe they let so many things at their yard sale go for a song. I would have marked up the prices a bit.
I like retail therapy, it cheers me up! = shopping that makes you happy

1.14.VOCABULARY: MOBILE PHONES

Smart phone / mobile phone / cell phone
I don’t have a landline (fixed phone at home in the office)
The battery is low.
My phone is low on battery.
I have run out of battery.
My phone / the battery is dead.
I need to charge (up) my phone.

1.15.HOW YOU USE YOUR MOBILE PHONE

There are 2 ways of expressing use

• I use it FOR + gerund
  I use it for accessing the Internet.

• I use it to + verb
  I use it to access the Internet

• For passing on information =sharing

• For calling friends

• For photography

• For taking selfies

• I am selfie-mad (I love it)

• To chat

• To navigate my way around

• To watch videos

• I use it to apply for jobs

• To listen to podcasts

• I use it to download trending apps

• I use it for texting

• I tend to use it just to get online and surf the web

• It’s really handy for video-conferences (=convenient, easy to use)

• It comes in handy for accessing Wechat and other social networks

• It’s the best way to play games

1.16.DIFFERENT KINDS OF APPS

• Games
• Language learning
• Productivity
• Stocks and trading
• News
• Health and fitness
• Music streaming
• Audio books
• Dictionaries
• Weather
• Photo editing
• Personal finance

1.17.VOCABULARY: MOBILE PHONES

Generally speaking,…

• When taking an exam
• In many schools
• In meetings – at least we have to turn the phone to silent
• To turn your phone off
• To turn off your phone
• To turn it off
• To turn off it

1.18.IDIOMS ABOUT MOBILE PHONES

• Just drop me a line on Wechat when you know = get in touch
• You can keep me posted by sending me a message on Instagram =keep me up to date
• The great thing about texting is that it allows you to get straight to the point, (=be direct) - you don’t need to beat about/around the bush (to ramble, be indirect)

2.事物类常见问题

Which do you think are better, old things or new things?
Well, it is very difficult to answer this question. In some ways old things are better, such as jewelry of the old times has better designs, some of which cannot be replicated now. As far as the technological gadgets are concerned, new things are far better than the old ones.

As well as family photographs, what are some other things that people keep in their family for a long time?
Apart from family photographs, some people keep the old jewelry for a long time. In my culture people pass down jeweler from generation to generation. People keep these things as memories of the past. These things also symbolize our traditions and culture. They hold nostalgic memories of the past.

Has it always been the same or did people value different things in the past?
I’ve never thought about that before but if I had to guess, I’d say it hasn’t changed much. I say this because it seems to me that people have always wanted the latest thing. I mean, obviously people didn’t value iPhone twenty or 30 years ago as they weren’t available but , for example, I remember my dad buying a TV when I was just a child. He was very excited about it. Similar to iPhone now; back then, I’m sure TVs were the latest technological items.

What kind of things give status to people in your country?
Well, in China one of the main status symbols is the automobile. Many people believe that the kind of car you own represents your personality as well as your social status. For example, when people see a person get out of an Italian sports car, the public usually assumes that they’re wealthy. People who have an old, beat-up(破旧的) car, on the other hand, are usually viewed as part of the middle or lower classes.

Why do you think people need to show their status in society?
Honestly, in my experience, it’s usually due to insecurity. What I mean is, people lack confidence and as a result, need fancy products to make themselves feel and appear successful. For instance, even though Warren Buffet is one of the richest men in the world, he drives a normal car. In contrast, many people who aren’t very wealthy buy expensive cars in order to appear rich.

What are the things that get replaced often?
I think how regularly something gets used depends on the frequency that it is used and its quality. If something is used a lot, then of course it will wear down and eventually need to be replaced. Similarly, if something is low quality, it will deteriorate because the parts are not
suitable for the job over a long period.

Do children replace things faster than adults?
Children are growing so fast – physically and emotionally – that they replace things much more rapidly than adults do. They often seem to almost grow overnight, so their clothes and stuff like that always need to be replaced. Also, I don’t know if this is what you mean, but children also heal much faster than adults, so I guess you could say they replace themselves faster too.

What are the effects of replacing items more frequently?
I think the effects are mostly negative – mainly ecological. By that I mean when something gets thrown away, it normally ends up in a landfill where it will sit or maybe thousands of years and pollute the surrounding area. Also, I think products are made to break quickly so that people are always buying replacements. There’s a term for this, but I can’t quite remember it.

Why do people give gifts in our society?
I think people give gifts for many reasons. One of the main ones is to celebrate a significant event, such as a anniversary or maybe a graduation. People also like to give gifts to show their appreciation to someone. I mean if someone has done a good job or helped someone in some way then they might be given a gift as a “thank you”.

Why do some people like to give hand-made gifts instead of purchasing them in a store?
I think it’s because something made by hand is more personal than something bought in a store. It shows that the person giving the gift cares about it and is happy to put in some effort to make something nice for another person. It’s the thought that counts!

What kind of educational gifts can be given to children?
I’m not sure about that. Um, I think books are a good gift for children because they are a great way to learn about the world. Books can be about anything. Also, because many children now have a smartphone or internet connected device, maybe some kind of educational apps would make a good gift.

What is the purpose of gift giving?
People love giving gifts primarily because it is just “customary” to give gifts in order to celebrate on some occasions with her friends and families. However, on a deeper level, we give gifts because it helps to create a stronger bond between the gift recipients and the persons, offering the gifts, by showing their love and appreciation for each other’s valuable role and presence in their lives. Besides, a person exchanges gifts with somebody also because it provides a tremendous psychological boost to the recipient which, in turn, helps strengthen his/her resilience to cope with the adverse moments of life.

How has gift giving changed since your grandparents’ time? How?
I would say that gift giving has changed since my grandparents’ time. Back in those days, people used to give gifts mostly on some special occasions, such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries, but today, one doesn’t really have to have an occasion for it. Besides, unlike in the past, people today expect “personalized” gifts with some kinds of thoughts behind them.

What is more important when it comes to giving a gift, cost or effort? Why?
In my opinion, the effort is more important than the cost when it comes to giving a gift. For example, if a person chooses an expensive gift for his or her partner, but the partner doesn’t like it because it just doesn’t go with him/her styles or color preferences, then the costly gift actually becomes “useless”. On the other hands, if a person gives a lot of thoughts and times in choosing a gift in order to make sure that he/she really understands what his/her partner likes or prefers, then the gift, no matter how “cheap” it is, would surely go a long way to impress the partner.

Do you think that people have become more materialistic when it comes to giving gifts, as compared to your grandparents’ time?
Yes, I would certainly like to think that people have become more materialistic, when it comes to giving gifts, primarily because we are living in a very “materialistic” society. Besides, our culture has grown more commercial, where “gift giving” – expensive gifts that is, has turned into a booming industry. Finally, media these days also play a crucial role in fostering an “unrealistic” expectation among people to buy “perfect gifts” without necessarily understanding the idea of a “perfect gift”.

How has modern technology changed the nature of gift giving? How?
Modern technology, like the internet, e-commerce and online shopping, has revolutionized the nature of gift giving by making it fast, affordable and convenient. In fact, we can choose the perfect gifts for our loved ones for any occasion, even if they live in another corner of the world, from the comfort of our homes on the internet and have them delivered to their doorsteps in hours, if not any quicker! The best thing about this modern technology is that we can actually get the opinions on the “gift ideas”, before actually buying them, from our friends and families almost instantly because we can send the ‘pictures’ to them through emails or messenger services. We can even send someone a gift card so that the recipient can choose his/her own gift from a collection of items.

Why do some people find it hard to choose a gift?
I’m one of those people! I not only find it hard to buy for others, but friends tell me that I’m really hard to buy for too! I think in my case I’m pretty hard to buy for because I tend to have just about everything I want. I’m not a really materialistic person and rarely talk about stuff I want. Typically the best gifts I’ve both received and given have been creative in nature. The other reason why it can be tough is because of money. Not everyone can splurge on an expensive gadget or pay for an expensive dinner. On the surface these could appear to be the perfect gift, but financially out of reach.

Do you think practical gifts are always better than other ones like cards and flowers?
No, not necessarily. Cards and flowers can be the perfect gift for some people. It’s often said that it’s the thought that counts, and cards and flowers can show how much someone cares.
There are some occasions, such as Valentine’s Day, when cards and flowers are the perfect gift. It’s common and almost cliché for someone to send their partner a bouquet of roses.
There are other people who would appreciate more something they can use. My dad, for example, would always prefer something he could use, whether it’s a book he can read, or a pair of socks!

Do people give you the same gifts as they did in the past?
Absolutely not, for a variety of reasons.

Perhaps the first that comes to mind is my age. It would be really inappropriate to give me a child’s toy as a gift, but I used to get lots of them for my birthday and also for Christmas when I was a kid. Nowadays it’s more likely that I’ll get something related to technology, or
maybe something more practical such as a pair of socks.

Friends and family are more likely to give me something that’s been recently invented. Technology has advanced at a rapid pace and there are a lot of things that simply didn’t exist five or ten years ago, let alone when I was a child. It’s for this reason that the gifts I’ll get nowadays will be very different to the ones I got in the past.

I’m not sure what the future holds, but I imagine that kinds of gifts I’ll get in the future will also be different to the ones I get now. Maybe it’ll be something really intriguing that has yet to be invented, and I’m quite excited to see what that could be.

3.事物类口语主题陈述

Describe an occasion that you borrowed something from others.
You should say:

• what the thing was
• when you borrowed it
• whom you borrowed it from
• and explain why you borrowed the thing.

I’d like to talk about the interphone I borrowed from one of my friends in April. I was planning a self-driving trip to Sichuan Province then. There were seven people of us, so we planned to go there in two cars. I had one interphone in my car, so I thought that it would be much convenient to get hold of people in another car on the way if there was another interphone when the signal of our cellphones is not very good. So I went to my friend to ask him to lend me his interphone before I set off.

He was one of my good friends. We once travelled to Inner Magnolia to see the grassland together by car. It was also a road trip. We used the interphones to talk to each other on the road. That was the first time I used the gear which impressed me a lot.

It turned out that the interphone was really a useful device on our way to our destination.
Every time I needed to take a rest in the service areas of the express way or remind another driver to drive carefully when the road was filled with puddles from the rain, I just picked it up, pressed the button and talked. It was more convenient than making a telephone call, and thus it was much safer when driving.

Describe an object you own that is important to you.
You should say：

• what it is and who gave it to you
• where you use it
• when you use it
• explain why it is important to you.

I’d like to talk about my laptop, which is a high-end MacBook pro. I bought this laptop when I realize that my old MacBook and my iMac were both very slow and became a chore to use. I researched the Macs online before I decided to get the best choice for me, and it was a really good choice. I use it every day for work and it is really fast and able to connect to many programs simultaneously.

I mainly use my laptop at my desk when I work during the day, it connects to a larger monitor and I work between two screens. I love how versatile it is though, for example when I travel I can easily take it with me or if I am ill, I can work from my bed. If I had chosen a desktop iMac, I would have been restricted to the use of it, in one place only. Having a laptop makes life easier when you move around a lot for work. In my opinion, it is the best tool I have for my working day, it connects me to my email accounts, clients, students and various other sites. I can also complete video calls effortlessly with the built in HD camera. I’m quite protective over my laptop and would never loan it to anyone to use it, as I use it so often myself, because it is my most prized possession.

If for any reason my laptop was not working, it would be very difficult for me to complete my work and so it is a very important object for me to be able to survive and complete my tasks. It is also a great learning tool when paired with internet use, I can research and learn a great number of things daily. It has quite a high monetary value which means that it is important as a possession but also as something that I covet because of how much I use it and need it to run my daily activities. Without it, I would be lost and I would be straight down to the apple store to get a replacement.

Describe an object you find particularly beautiful (e.g. a painting, sculpture, piece of jeweler/furniture, etc.).
You should say:

• where the artwork/object is
• how it was made
• what it shows/looks like
• and explain why you find it particularly beautiful.

My house is full of different kinds of furniture that are laying there for ages, and they are also serving many purposes of my house. But, today, I would like to talk about a piece of furniture which is relatively new, and which I particularly find beautiful.

The furniture, I am talking about, is a large computer desk which my family has bought rather recently from a famous chain furniture store in my country. Even though it was primarily bought to use as a family computer desk, now we use it for practically all purposes, from ironing our clothes to eating our afternoon snacks. Not to mention, of course, the L-shape desk is large enough, not only to accommodate our big, old desktop but also to keep some of the best-looking flower vases to create warm atmosphere.

Anyway, to describe the computer desk, in a bit more details, it is a brownish and wooden (from oak tree) desk that have perfectly well-rounded corners. Its edges on all sides are curved very smoothly in order to render the desk a rather modern look overall. It’s also very wide and deep, which gives us plenty of room, not only to place a computer, but also to do other things which I have already mentioned above. By the way, even though, originally the desk, which can be broken into pieces and assembled easily, had a rather expensive price tag, my family actually got to buy it on a discounted price. In fact, the desk costed us only a little over 1000 yuan, which also additionally included some beautifully-designed metal legs if we wanted to ever use them later on.

Anyway, I find this particular piece of furniture beautiful, mainly because it looks very shiny as if it is just newly-bought. Besides, the particular piece of furniture blends in perfectly and naturally with the other household items inside the room in order to give it a rather elegant look.

Describe something that you would like to own.
You should say

• what it is
• where you have seen it
• what you would use it for
• and explain why you would like to own this object.

I’m going to talk about a watch that I would like to own. It’s one of these new smartwatches, a new type of watch that has all the functions and features of a smart phone, but of course you wear it on your wrist, so it’s even more portable. And this is a new fashion accessory these days, a new gadget, that I’ve seen advertised everywhere: on billboards in the city center, on TV adverts, and I’ve seen these watches in person, in ‘real life’, in various department stores that I’ve been to when out shopping. And I’m not sure which brand I would buy, but I’ve seen the various brands, and maybe the most famous one at the moment is the Apple Watch.

The reason I’d like one of these watches is because you can synchronize it with your computer and phone, and so you’ve got all your contacts, your photos and especially calendar notifications right there on your wrist, and you’re carrying it round with you. I think it would be particularly convenient for me to be able to organize my life using one of these watches, and check my appointments and work commitments at a glance, just looking at my wrist. I think it’d even be good maybe for health reasons, because apparently you can track your exercise goals, even things like the number of steps you’re taking every day. So that might be quite interesting.

The reason that I’d like one of these watches, as I said, would be the features and functions that I’ve just mentioned. I think these watches are really practical. It’s just as good as a phone in terms of the technology, but it’s even more portable; really they’re the ultimate in portable devices. And I’m a fan of gadgets, and this one looks really stunning too. Those are the reasons why I think it would be nice to have one.

Describe an old object which your family has kept for a long time.
You should say:

• what the object is
• where your family got it from
• how long it has been in your family

It is a prevalent tradition to preserve things that belong to forefathers as their remembrance and shows respect. Certain items such as furniture, jewelry, vehicles, and others kept for this purpose here I would talk about a piece of jewelry that our family is keeping.

It is a precious gold necklace that my mother received from my grandmother, which belongs to my great grandmother. It is a ritual in our family that mother-in-law gifts the chain as a part of the legacy to their daughter-in-Law. One day my mother will also forward it to my daughter-in-law. As I said, it is a gold necklace it is quite expensive. It has a unique antique design, and such kind of chains are extremely rare because of hand carving. Along with gold, there are white pearls and rectangle rubies, which makes it even more attractive.

My mother takes great care of this necklace, keeps it safe, and wears it only on extraordinary occasions. She always receives excellent compliments whenever she wears it.

We had photographs of my great grandmother, grandmother, and my mother wearing the same necklace. It is undoubtedly precious because of gold, but it is even more precious because of the emotion attached to it. I hope my family will preserve this precious ornament for the generation to come.