Describe a friend you have known for a long time

這張題卡的準備方式

考官用這張題卡（cue card）看你能不能敘述一段隨時間發展的關係。這會自然用到過去式、現在的習慣，以及一點反思；只要讓故事真正展開，而不是全程只用同一個時態，就能展現不錯的文法範圍。「how you became friends」這一項往往內容最豐富，因為起源的故事通常有具體而難忘的細節，很容易說得長。

選一段你能具體想像的友誼：你們認識的具體地點、你們現在還一起做的具體活動，而不是籠統的「we are very close」式描述。如果你最親近的朋友是比較近幾年才認識的，選一段持續了幾年的友誼，而不是從童年開始的，也完全沒問題，因為長短是相對的，細節的品質遠比確切的年數重要。

你的2分鐘要稍微把重心放在「how you became friends」和「what you usually do together」，因為這兩項自然會產生具體的故事；最後再用簡短而誠實的反思回答「why it has lasted」，答案往往很簡單，例如相同的幽默感、信任，或雙方持續的付出。

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, how long known, rough age when we met
• How we met: specific place/situation, first impression
• What we do together: one or two regular activities, recent example
• Why it’s lasted: honest reason — humour, trust, effort despite distance

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’ll talk about my friend Diyor, who I’ve known for around fifteen years now, since we were both about ten years old. We actually became friends almost by accident — we were seated next to each other on the first day of a new school and just started talking about a football match from the night before, and somehow that turned into being practically inseparable for the rest of primary school. What we usually do together has changed a fair bit over the years, obviously; back then it was mostly just playing outside after school, whereas now, since he lives in a different city for work, we mostly catch up over video calls every couple of weeks, and we still make a point of meeting up in person a few times a year, usually around football, actually — we’ll go to a match together if we can manage it. What I think has kept this friendship going for so long, honestly, is that it’s fairly low-maintenance; we can go a month without properly talking and then pick the conversation back up as if no time had passed at all, which I don’t think happens with every friendship. There’s also a shared sense of humour that’s stayed exactly the same since we were kids, which sounds like a small thing, but I genuinely think it’s the main reason we haven’t grown apart the way a lot of my other school friendships eventually did.

這張題卡的常見錯誤

• 用籠統的形容詞（「kind」、「funny」、「nice」）描述朋友的個性，卻始終沒有敘述你們實際上是怎麼認識的，或是一起做什麼。
• 在過去（怎麼認識的）和現在（現在做什麼）之間轉換時，時態不一致。
• 把「why it has lasted」當作事後補充，而不是給出真實而具體的理由。
• 選了一位你其實說不出什麼具體內容的朋友，回答遠不到2分鐘就說完了。