Describe a famous person you would like to meet

這張題卡的準備方式

這張題卡（cue card）常被低估，因為它看起來只是簡單的「你最喜歡誰」，但它的結構會把你推向三種不同的能力：清楚描述一個人的公眾形象、自然地用條件句或假設語氣說明「你會問什麼或做什麼」，以及給出有理由的說明，而不只是「因為我喜歡他們」。考官會聽你能不能撐住假設語氣的文法，例如「I would ask」、「I’d love to know」，而不會不小心滑回簡單的過去式或現在式。

最容易取材的真實角度，是和你本來就感興趣的領域有關的人，例如音樂家、科學家、作家或運動員，因為這樣自然就能對「what they’re famous for」說出具體而有根據的內容，而不是籠統的摘要。如果你其實不太了解某人的作品，就不要只因為對方全球知名而選他；這裡具體比知名更重要。

在「what you’d ask or do」上要多花些時間，因為這一項最容易帶出自然又多樣的語言；說出一個具體的問題或活動，並稍微解釋一下，會比籠統列出三件你想做的事好得多。

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: name, field
• Famous for: one or two specific achievements
• What I’d ask/do: one specific question or activity, why
• Why meet them: honest personal 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。

I’d like to talk about Marie Curie, even though obviously meeting her isn’t actually possible, which I realise makes this slightly hypothetical in a different way — but if I had to choose someone I genuinely wish I could meet, she’d be close to the top of the list. She’s famous, of course, for her work on radioactivity, and for being the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields, which is still an extraordinary achievement even by today’s standards, let alone at the time she was working. What I’d most want to ask her about isn’t really the science itself, interestingly, but what it was actually like being the only woman in most rooms she worked in — how she dealt with that constant scepticism without it seemingly slowing her down at all. I think I’d also want to know what an ordinary working day looked like for her, because from what I’ve read she was almost obsessively dedicated, to the point where her health suffered, and I’m curious whether she saw that as a sacrifice worth making or something she simply never questioned. The reason I’d want to meet her specifically, rather than someone more contemporary, is that her achievements happened against such enormous resistance that I think talking to her would completely reframe how I think about persistence — most of the obstacles I complain about seem fairly small in comparison. It’s less about being starstruck and more that I think a single honest conversation with her would genuinely change my perspective on what’s actually possible when you refuse to give up on something.

這張題卡的常見錯誤

• 整個回答都不知不覺回到簡單的過去式或現在式，沒有在假設的會面中持續使用「would」。
• 只描述這個人為什麼有名，卻從沒回答你具體會問他們什麼或和他們做什麼。
• 給出「because they’re my favourite」這類籠統的理由，而不是有條理的個人說明。
• 選了考生自己也不太熟悉的人，使「what they’re famous for」這一項內容貧乏又重複。