Describe a family member you spend a lot of time with

這張題卡的準備方式

這張題卡（cue card）考的是，你能不能自然地談日常、持續的生活習慣，而不是單一難忘的事件，這與「describe a time you…」這類題卡所需的能力不同。考官想聽的是一種固定模式的具體細節：多久一次、做什麼，以及為什麼會有這種模式，所以這類回答的主要時態往往是現在式和現在進行式，而不是其他題卡常用的過去式。

最容易取材的角度，幾乎總是你目前真正住在一起，或最常見面的那個人，因為這樣「how much time」那一項就很容易誠實而具體地回答。如果你不和家人住在一起，描述搬出去之後聯絡方式有什麼變化，是自然又簡單的加深內容的方法，不是需要隱藏的弱點。

時間分配上，在「what you usually do together」花適當的時間，因為具體的共同活動，最容易帶出自然的詞彙和細節；然後用「explain」那一行給出一個誠實而簡單的理由，說明為什麼會這麼親近，例如共同的生活作息、相似的興趣，或單純住在同一個屋簷下。

讓回答更出色的詞彙

1分鐘準備計畫

在1分鐘的準備時間裡，可以寫下：

• Who: relationship, age, where they live
• Time together: daily/weekly, roughly how much, since when
• What we do: one or two specific regular activities
• Why: shared routine/interest, honest simple reason

範例回答

以下是這張題卡完整回答的一種寫法，用來示範結構和程度，不是要你照背。你自己的版本應該反映你自己的家庭狀況。

I’d like to talk about my younger sister, Malika, who I currently share an apartment with while we’re both studying in the same city. We probably spend more time together than most siblings our age simply because of that living arrangement — realistically, we see each other every single day, and most evenings we end up in the same room even when we’re doing completely different things, just because it’s more comfortable than sitting alone. What we usually do together varies quite a lot: sometimes it’s genuinely mundane, like taking it in turns to cook dinner or doing the weekly shopping, and other times it’s things we actually choose to do together, like watching a series or going for a walk on the weekend when neither of us has much on. What’s kept us this close, I think, isn’t so much a shared hobby as just the daily routine itself — we’ve naturally fallen into a habit of catching up on the day over dinner most nights, which sounds small, but it means we’re aware of what’s going on in each other’s lives almost constantly rather than only during big events. Before we moved in together for university, I don’t think we were nearly this close; we got on fine, but there was a five-year age gap that meant we didn’t really share much day to day. Living together has genuinely changed that, and now she’s probably the person I talk to most honestly about anything, which I don’t think would have happened without simply spending this much ordinary time in the same space.

這張題卡的常見錯誤

• 只列出這位家人是怎樣的人，卻沒有描述實際相處的時間，或相處時發生的事。
• 完全忽略「how much time」那一項，而它往往是最容易具體又快速回答的一項。
• 以為回答一定要描述戲劇性或特別親密的關係，其實誠實而平凡的關係，只要描述得具體，一樣有力。
• 全程只用現在式，完全沒有談為什麼會這麼親近，最後一項指示就沒有回答到。