考博英语口语复述材料

Retelling One

Kelly Swisher, an Arkansas woman, escaped injury and managed to safely stop her car after a4-foot-long rat snake came out from under her car seat and slid across her feet as she was driving down the highway. Rat snakes aren't poisonous or a threat to people generally. But the woman says the snake she encountered Thursday terrified her out of her wits. "It was rough, with big scales,"said Swisher,who was on her way to pick up her friend at the airport when it happened."I don't know whether I had my hands on the steering wheel or not. I am not the most flexible person in the world, but I can guarantee my knees were up next to my ears." She said the snake first slid back under the seat , and she hoped it would stay there until she was able to get off the highway and stop ."That didn't work out," she said. "Here he comes, and he wound up in my back seat before I could finally get off the road, stop and get out of the car." She called for help. And Washington County animal control officers came and captured the snake.

 

Retelling Two

Fast food, it turns out, isn't quite as fast as it used to be. A new study finds that McDonald's posted its slowest drive-through times since this survey was first conducted fifteen years ago. At McDonald's, customers will spend on average three minutes and nine seconds from the time they place their orders until they receive their food. That's about ten seconds more than the industry average-and a lot slower than a decade ago, according to the study, which was commissioned by QSR, an industry trade publication. And McDonald's wasn't alone in slowing down: Other chains also saw their drive-through performance slow down. Among the reasons for the slower service,today there are more choices on the menu, and the products themselves are more complex and take longer to prepare. Speed, of course, is essential to the drive-through experience. And drive-throughs are hugely important to chains, such as McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell. "Usually the drive-through accounts for 60 to 70 percent of all business that goes through a fast-food restaurant," notes Sam Oches, editor of QSR. Of course, consumers also want their orders prepared correctly and on that score, Oches says, "accuracy is still really high."

 

Retelling Three

The first private mission outside of Earth's orbit is closer than many of us think. U. s. govermment officials are set to approve a mission by privately-held space company Moon Express to travel outside of Earth's orbit in late 2017. Moon Express's mission involves plans to land a suitcase-sized package of scientific equipment on the moon for ongoing exploration and commercial development. The decision involved months of lobbying and coordinated conversations between a number of federal agencies. Under intemational treaties, the U. S. is responsible for the cargo of both public and private spacecraft. This makes commercial space travel a complex legal issue not just domestically, but abroad. (7) A Moon Express representative declined to comment on this story but noted that the company is very optimistic about its proposal. Moon Express is not the only company seeking for the right to travel to outer space . Elon Musk's Space X aims to send an unmanned aircraft to Mars by 2018.

 

Retelling Four

In today's job market, it's not uncommon for job seekers to submit applications for many positions. That involves lots of time and lots of work to organize. Certainly, you don't want to wast your precious hours on following the developments in a disorderly fashion and miss important deadlines, confuse interview times, or forget to follow up as a result. Accordingly, managing your job search properly is just as important as identifying job opportunities and submitting your applications. If you are familiar with Microsoft Excel or a similar program, creating a table is a simple and effective way to keep track of your job applications. If Excel isn't quite your cup of tea,don't worry, you can create a table in Microsoft Word or a similar word processor. Google is another tool to help you get organized effectively. If you have a Gmail account, you can create, save and send tables in addition to written documents like your cover letter and resume. You can also link y on top of important dates. Clearly, there are plenty of ways to keep track of your job search and making the effort to simplify your job search will pay off. Nevertheless, you should always focus on quality, not quantity. Only apply for positions you are qualified for and make each application count, personalizing each cover letter, and updating and Question 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.

 

Retelling Five

Some people say, if kids didn't have to go to school, they'd all be out in the streets. My reply is "No, they wouldn't." First, even if school stayed just the way they are, children would spend at least some time there, because that's where they'd be likely to find friends. Second, schools wouldn't stay the way they are. They'd get better because we would have to start making them what they ought to be right now. Last, if we stirred up our brains and gave children a little help,those who did not want to go to school could find other things to do-things many children now do during their holidays. There's something easier we could do. We need to get kids out of the school buildings, give them a chance to learn about the world at first hand. In Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon, plans are being drawn up for public schools that won't have any school buildings at all. That will take the students out into the city and help them to use it and its people as a resource. In other words, students, perhaps in groups, perhaps independently, will go to libraries,museums, exhibitions, courtrooms, radio and TV stations, meetings, businesses, and laboratories to learn about their world and society at first hand. A small private school in Washington is already doing this. It makes sense. We need more of it.