IELTS Speaking Part 1: Handwriting

1.       Do you usually write by hand or using a computer?

Most of the time I use a computer because it’s far more practical. I mean, for starters, it’s a lot faster typing on the computer, and also it’s much easy to correct what you write, because if you’re writing by hand, you’ve got to cross something out or use tipp-ex, which can look a bit messy, especially if you make a lot of changes!

practical             －        实用

for starters                     －        首先 （口语）

correct                            －        修正

cross out                        －        抹掉、画掉

tipp-ex                            －        修正液 (correction fluid)

messy                            －        凌乱的

2.       When do children begin to write in your country?

It’s kind of hard to generalize, because different children start at different times. You know, even though they’ll be formally taught how to write when they start kindergarten, most will be taught before that at home by their parents. So I’d say it’s probably between the age of about 2 and 3.

It’s kind of hard to generalize           －        有点难概括

Formally            －        正式的

Kindergarten    －        幼儿园

3.       How did you learn to write?

I honestly can’t remember how I learnt it, but my guess would be that I learnt it from my parents, because children are definitely old enough to write before they start school, so I’m sure that either my mum or my dad taught me the basics.

I honestly can’t remember    －        我实在记不清楚

the basics         －        基础知识

4.       Do you think handwriting is very important nowadays?

No, on the whole I’d say it’s not that important nowadays, because I mean, who actually writes things by hand anymore? You know, it’s probably only important at school and taking academic exams, when you have to write by hand, but in the real world, I think it’s entirely unnecessary.

on the whole                 －        总的来说

in the real world           －        在现实世界中

entirely unnecessary  －        完全没有必要的

5.       What impression does a person’s handwriting have on other people?

Well I think if you have nice and neat handwriting, it leaves a pretty positive impression on others, as it kind of gives the sense that you care about appearance and pay attention to detail, whereas if you have messy handwriting, it can have the opposite effect.

Neat                                                                   －        整洁的

pay attention to detail             －        细心

the opposite effect                  －        相反的效果

6.       Did your handwriting look good when you were younger?

If yes:

Yeah, I think it looked all right. You know, it was pretty neat and tidy, and I seem to remember taking pride in my writing. I suppose one of the reasons for this is that our teacher drilled into us the importance of having good handwriting, so I used to practice it a lot!

Take pride in…                        －        为……感到骄傲

Drilled into us                           －        叮嘱

If no:

No, I can’t say it did actually! I mean, my handwriting’s never been great, but when I was younger, it was particularly bad, you know, it was all over the place! For some reason, I just had a lot of difficulty with my writing.

all over the place                     －        really messy (很乱)

For some reason                     －        不知道为什么、由于某个原因

Audio 录音:

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=522027255752