Describe an interesting conversation with a stranger You should say:
When and where did you meet the stranger? What did you talk about?
And explain why did you think it is interesting.
Sample:
The topic reminds me of a talk with a passenger I met in the lounge while I was waiting for my plane. It’s in the lounge where I met an alumnus who took the same flight. What a coincident, he studied in the same department as I do. We talked happily about the changes of our school in the past years and shared much memory. What a unique experience!
The day I flied to pay a visit to my friend whom I had not seen for years. After I arrived at the lounge， I found a seat and took out a novel to read as there would be about an hour’s wait. As I was reading, the man sitting next to me handed me a bookmarker ， which actually was mine. It's my favorite bookmaker that I used to put in the book. I didn’t know when it fell out. Then the man asked me if I was a student of XX University. I had no idea of how he figured out my school. He then smiled， pointing at the bookmaker as I was looking at him rather confused. Well ， it turned out the name of my university printed in the bookmaker, which was particularly made for the school's centennial celebration， made him have the guess. The thing got interesting as he told me he graduated from the school three years ago, the year when I was admitted. At his time， when our school moved to the current site，plenty of the facilities in school and infrastructure in surrounding were not completed. Once, he said， a heavy rain last for overnight and water covered the way outside halls of residence， as the drainage system was not efficient enough. As a result， the students had a day off until the water was
cleared out. The time before we had to get on board，I told him the new library under construction, our teachers and things like that. It’s fantastic to have an interesting talk with a man like him.
Sample2
I had an unusual talk with a taxi driver about a year ago which was impressive. We talked about our jobs, complained about the traffic jam and enjoyed our talk for about half an hour.
It’s a special day, for taxi drivers were on a strike because of the rising fuel price and the heavy traffic on roads. I didn’t know that and I was trying to take a taxi back to my company. Standing on the roadside, I waited for over an hour to get on a taxi. I was rather surprised, as I was in downtown area where there were usually plenty of taxis passing by, but that didn’t happen on that day. On seeing an empty taxi coming towards, I was happy and waved my hands trying to stop it. Unexpectedly the driver paid no attention to me and drove away in a rush. Thinking that the driver might not see me, I waited again. However, in the following half hour, two more empty taxis passed me, no matter how hard I waved to them. When I was desperate and decided to go to the bus station, a taxi stopped as a passenger walked off. I was glad the driver was willing to take me, from whom I knew why I could not get on a taxi. On talking, I knew that the increasing number of cars on roads made it much crowded on roads, and taxi drivers had to wait longer time for being held up by traffic. What’s worse, the price of gas raised several times in the past months. The drivers suffered a great lose in their incoming, and they started a strike- some drivers refused to drive, some didn’t take passengers- asking the government to draw up a new charging system for taxi. I was sorry for the drivers, and then I complained about my job with him. We agreed on the difficulty of making a living by working for others. It's joyful to have a talk with him.
PART 3: Discussion topics:
1. Is face to face talking better than that on the Internet?
It depends. People nowadays can make video chat through the Internet, by which people can talk as they are sitting in front of each other. It’s convenient for people who are away for thousands of miles. It’s popular among people to chat with net friends whom they’ve never met in real life. However, video chat like this can be dangerous. There are reports about men pretending to be girls to make friends with other males. They make use of technology and appear to be “girls” shown in the video.
2. What’s the advantage of face to face talking?
The advantage of face to face talking would be that a listener can better react to what a speaker said. For example, a speaker may tell his terrible experience, and he might not help crying for his suffering. Hearing that, the listener can give him a hug or hold his hands, to comfort him. This can never be achieved by talking online.
Yes, it seems that women talk a lot more than men. Women are interested in sharing with others, and are curious about the affairs of others. That’s why women are called the spreaders of rumor. A group of two or more woman can always be seen enjoy chatting anywhere, on buses, at restaurant, or on the road. Sometimes, they lose themselves in talking, and their loudvoice will disturb others around.
4. Do busy people have no time to talk with others?
It depends. Not all busy people are so occupied that they have no time to talk with others. Most men speak less, for they have many affairs to deal with, and they keep considering what to do to deal with those. Men tend to keep their problems and happiness to themselves and seldom show those to others. Women are different, and they will talk with their best friends or someone they trust. They can always find time to do that.
5. Is it easier for people to talk with strangers than with friends?
Yes, it is. The strangers may be net friends, or those people met on the journey, so the strangers have no idea of who the people really arc, and in most cases, they will never meet in reality again. Talking with strangers is a good way for people to confide their feelings. For example, some people prefer to take out their anger on others with their net-friends. The net-friends, having no way to know the truth, will take sides in the speaker. Being supported and having releasing their anger, the speaker will feel much better.
6. Why there are so many talk show programs in TV?
Well, talk shows are popular, because people like to watch them to relax. Besides, the cost of talk show is comparatively low, as usually a person or two will be invited to talk with a host in studio. Also, various sources of the interviewed person/ persons would be collected and edited forward, to make the program colorful.
7. Why do people prefer to watch talk shows?
Most people like to watch talk shows for relaxing. Well-known people, like writers, directors, artists, or actors, are often invited to attend the shows. In the program, guests will share their life stories- the interesting events and suffering they went through, and their effort to get succeeded. People tend to be moved by the stories, and they sometimes find they have similar experiences with the guests, and they then are more confident to go forward.