1. Describe a kind of traditional costume in your country, which is not quite commonly followed now

I would like to talk about cheongsam, a kind of body hugging, one piece traditional dress for women, it is usually made of silk, with exquisite phoenix and delicate flower patterns like peony, orchid and chrysanthemum, Originally, cheongsam was created in the 1920s Shanghai for upper class women to replace those baggy and loose dresses, now ordinary women can afford it, they wear it mainly on special occasions like parties or ceremonies. I think it is really unique and traditional, coz it represents the unique beauty of the oriental women.

2. Which period do you think is most challenging: childhood, teenager or adulthood?

I would say the toughest period during one's life is adulthood. Not like the childhood, we are pursuing our degrees in universities or already doing a job to make a living. In school, we are constantly under lots of pressures; the assignments like problem sets, presentations, and research papers are killing us. After graduation, we have to fulfill all kinds of responsibilities as a professional. On the other hand, being a child or an adolescent is much easier; they just have fun and do not have to worry about anything.

3. Choose an accomplishment that required you to work very hard. Explain what the accomplishment was and why it was important to you.

When it comes to the proud accomplishment I have ever made, I would have to mention the improvement of my English speaking.

You know, since I want to further my study in America, I need to enhance my language ability; it’s definitely not an easy task.

For e.g. I got up early every day to do the morning reading, corrected my pronunciation and intonation day by day, trying to exercise my oral muscles.

However, the most difficult part lies in the difference in ways of building sentences; sometimes I even needed to think in English to develop my mind. I utilized all my odd moments, studied diligently. Finally, all my efforts paid off. I got a content grade in the test, and have the chance to pursue my dream.

4. Describe a place you enjoyed going to when you were a child.

Explain why.

When I was a kid, I enjoyed going to the central park near my home. It’s pretty small but performed multiple functions for the community.

The space of the park was efficiently used for people to do various activities, I remember there was a plaza where the elders could dance and play traditional musical instruments, such as Erhu and accordion.

A small football court also was laid out for the boys to run around and do sports.

However, my favorite area was the woods, because it was quiet for me to draw pictures there after school. The various plants fascinated me and it’s more than interesting to just learn about their names.

5. Describe a traditional festival in your country.

I have to say the most important festival in China is the Spring Festival when family members get together after the hard work of a whole year. On the New Year’s Eve, people paste spring festival paper scrolls on both sides of the door. It’s criminal not cooking a sensational feast with dumplings and fish, because dumplings represent good luck and fish means plentiful. There are some traditional rules you have to observe carefully, like no medicine, no haircut, and no sweep on the first day of the New Year. The Spring Festival vacation lasts for nearly half a month during which people attend various celebrating activities, such as dragon dances, galas, temple fairs and so forth.

6. When traveling, which of the following will you choose?

1) Walking on the street

2) Taking an organized trip

3) Visiting museum

Well, I will choose walking on the street, cuz it’s such an easy and direct way to understand the life style of the local people. I like to observe different people, like the idle store owners, the commuters rushing into the work sites, the taxi drivers, the house wives carrying the laundries. The way they talk to each other, the mood they are in, I can capture and keep them in my camera when walking on the street.

This way comes so many accidental encounters and inspirations that I’m not prepared for, so the journeys are always full of surprises.

7. Do you agree or disagree with: university students should be encouraged to study in majors more needed in the job market, like science, technology, engineering, and math, rather than study in the fields that they are interested in.

I strongly disagree with the statement. Just because students need to find a job doesn’t mean they are money-making machines, on the contrary, they are human beings who need to find where their interests lie in and what their true love is. Where there is passion, there comes success! For example, I used to persuade myself to learn finance just because I thought it’s promising, but I barely stayed awake in all the classes, and I felt less motivated to study, finally I gave up, and turned to the subjects I truly love, that is literature. Although it’s hard to find a job but there are still some opportunities and I think I will be happy.

8. Which characteristic do you think is the most important for the high school teachers?

1) The ability to give advice about planning for future.

2) The ability to recognize students that need help.

3) The ability to encourage students to learn outside of the classroom by themselves.

I think the high school teachers definitely should possess the ability to spot out students in trouble. High school students are different from university students who are confused about their future; they are more sensitive to the environment and at a crucial point of life, they are easy to be bullied, lose confidence, and their world values are not mature enough to resist temptations from outside world, so they are more likely to become misfits, and gave up on themselves based on stupid reasons. If teachers can’t recognize them immediately, they will fall out, which will cause damage to their entire life.

9. Competition between friends usually negatively impacts friendships.

I agree with this statement, because I saw how this played out in my own life. Once a time, my close friend and I were in a competition for an English public speaking prize, the winner would have the chance to go to Canada as an exchange student. We both wanted to win, so during the time period when we were doing the preparations, we shut each other out, but the time before that we usually hung out together and discussed challenging questions together. Finally I won, my friend congratulated me, but after that we were not as intimate as we had been, there is a crack existing in our friendship, and it’s irreparable.

10. Do you agree or disagree with: parents should express their disagreements to the teachers if they find the teaching method incorrect.

I don’t think so. First, parents are usually wrong about teaching method because they can’t be objective about their children; their unconditional love clouds their judgments, also spoils their children, so when they say the teaching method is incorrect, it’s possible they misunderstand education actually. Second, challenging teachers will undermine the authority of school, making students confused about who they should follow. Corrupting teachers ‘authority is dangerous, because that will cause students to be out of control, getting harder and harder to discipline. Finally, that will also cause conflict between parents and teachers, spread mistrust among parents, and then destroy the education system.

11. Do you agree or disagree with: a team leader needs to admit his or her mistakes.

I think it is right, when making mistakes, a leader should admit, because he or she is responsible for the whole teamwork, he or she should make sure the team is heading towards the right direction. Imagine what will happen if a team leader makes mistakes and denies it? Other team members will follow because they fear losing the job if they don’t stand by the leader, as a result, wrong decisions will be made, and cause great damage to the work. Besides, admitting mistakes is not a shame, on the contrary, it’s the demonstration of a sense of responsibility, and it won’t hurt the authority of the leader, but strengthen it, people will put more trust in the leader.

12. Do you agree or disagree with: the most important investment for a company is improving the working ability of its employees?

I think it’s wrong. There is always an upper limit of the working ability of the employees under certain working condition, so what is beyond that?

I think the most important investment for a company is developing advanced technology and drawing up business strategy. For example, some big companies like Microsoft and Google spend huge amount of money on the research in artificial intelligence and robots, since the traditional business they rely on will shrink in the future, in order to make sure they will still play the leading role in the future market, seeing the whole picture is more important than just focusing on the current employees.

13. Do you agree or disagree with: governments should spend money on building modern architectures rather than persevering historical buildings.

I think the government should spend money on preserving historical buildings, because modern architectures are all the same in every country: you know those skyscrapers, shining glass buildings, we can see them in Tokyo, in Dubai, but what makes a country special? The local culture, and the historical architectures are the only thing that can symbolize the local culture, they are the name cards of an ancient country through which people living there can identify with each other, share common memories. So preserving historical buildings can help attract tourists, which means bringing financial benefits, also will help spread culture to people from other countries.

14. In the past people were more interested in improving their neighborhoods than they are today.

I agree with this statement. In the past there are less high buildings in the city and people lived in a relatively open community where they needed to share a lot of common responsibilities, like keep the environment clean, planting trees or flowers, raising money to establish some facilities or throwing a party to get to know each other. Whereas now, the life pace is fast and there is no time for the community activities and also no need, because the responsibilities of improving the neighborhoods are outsourced and taken by big companies specializing in the resident service. People pay money for the company to do the job and enjoy their private life, and spend more time pursuing personal interests.

15. Which of the following places do you think is the most challenging to work at: the museum, hospital, or business office? Explain why. Please include details and examples in your explanation.

I think hospital is the most challenging place to work at, because I fear seeing blood and injured people, it’s terrifying for me, and there is a chance that I may pass out. Besides, working at hospital requires medical expertise; one should know what to do for the first-aid, what to do to save people’s lives, it’s complicated and only medical care majors with years hands-on experience can handle it. It’s stressful, and people’s lives are at stake! Comparing with this, the museum work or dealing some paper work in a business office sounds like just a piece of cake!

16. Which of the following skills would you like to learn: cooking, photography or web design? Explain why. Please include details and examples in your explanation.

I will choose web design, because nowadays, internet and computer skills are everything. You want to make more new friends and contact people all around the world, you need a website; you want to sell more products and reboot your business, you need a website, you want to start your own company, the most cost-effective way is also to build up a website. Websites has become the most useful tool to help connect you and the world. Besides, I’m really into computer programming, and think it is a promising field, so I think web design will be helpful. As for cooking and photography, they are so everyday, everyone can make great pictures with cellphones, or can cook delicious food with recipes obtained from the internet.

17. Which of the following occupations do you consider the most important for the city, a policeman, a public transportation worker, or a building designer? Please include specific examples and details in your explanation.

I will choose the building designer, because the design of the building decides the efficiency of the usage of space, and also decides people’s life styles. Are they living in a community where people can easily make contact to the nature, or are they living in an isolated space that provides more privacy? It’s crucial. Recently I read a book that some communities housing young people are designed to be divided into various areas based on the residents’ common interests, and different buildings have unique and special outside look. For instance, there is a wildly-colored building with many young musicians living inside, it’s groundbreaking and amazing!

18. Your community center now offers classes on the weekends for free. Which of the following class will you choose to take: a financial course to help you manage money, car maintenance and repair, or review of Latin-American music?

I will choose the car repair. You know, automobiles play a key role in people’s life, without a car, you can go nowhere. Especially in America, people are actually dependent on cars for transportation. So imagine if the car breaks down halfway and I totally have no idea of what is happening, it will be a disaster, I will be trapped on the way and no one can help me, when the nightfall comes, it could be dangerous! So I think car repair is an essential skill. What’s more, as a girl, I think it’s cool for me to learn mechanics, it can add some charm to me.

19. Do you agree or disagree with following statement? If you want to succeed in business being outgoing and friendly is very important.

Personally, I totally agree with this statement and business people should be sociable. For whatever business people like, marketing manager, sales manager, and even Chief Executive Officer need to be friendly, since it can broaden their social connection. Sociable business people attend many social activities, like marketing events, expositions, charitable activities, thus, getting to know more business partners, potential clients. Additionally, social people tend to break the ice and build rapport, and therefore, it is more likely to close business deal.

20. You are admitted to two universities at the same time. One is prestigious but has a high tuition and the other is not but gives you a scholarship. Which would you go to and why?

Of course I will choose the prestigious one, because having a good reputation means it has high academic credentials, and center the most brilliant minds. In such a great studying environment, I will absorb the cutting-edge knowledge and enrich myself with innovative ideas. After graduation, a bachelor degree from a prestigious university will be respected and appreciated, thus ensures me a promising future on the job market. As for the expensive tuition, I think it’s worthy of it, I can apply for a student loan or work part-time on campus, which is also a good opportunity to push my boundaries and a good way to solve the financial problem.

21. Which do you prefer? Educational programs or entertainment programs on TV?

Well, I would prefer watching educational programs on TV. Coz first they satisfy my curiosity. I am a big fan of many natural science subjects, like astronomy, geology, physics, and biology, every time when I am watching those educational programs like National Geography or BBC Planet Earth, I learn so much, which really help to expand my horizons. Second, as a student, I have been quite busy every day, like I have to take classes like 8 hours a day and deal with endless presentations, school work and club activities etc, so listening to music is my way to unwind and blow off steam, coz I barely have time for entertainment programs on TV, be it soap operas or reality show.

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