2017年6-8月雅思口語Part 1：holiday

　　1.What is your favourite type of holiday?

　　I really like going to the countryside, getting away from it all. Nothing relaxes me as much as wilderness... I am tired of tourist traps and usually go off the beaten

　　2. What public holidays do you have in your country?

　　We’ve got loads of them, for example, the one that’s just passed was the National Day holiday, and then we’ve got the Spring Festival of course - that’s probably the most important one - which is at the beginning of the year, sometime around, like, late January, beginning of February, that kind of time. And uh, what else do we have? Uh…oh yeah, the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and um… there are a few others as well but I can’t remember them all off-hand I’m afraid!

　　loads of = lots of (spoken English)

　　off-hand -立即, 當即, 事先沒有準備地 (e.g. I can’t think of anything offhand.我即時想不出什么來”

　　I’m afraid -用于禮貌或正式的道歉或表示遺憾.

　　3. Do people in your country celebrate Christmas?

　　Um…it’s kind of hard to generalize, but I would say, to an extent, yeah. I mean, by and large, it’s the younger generation that tend to celebrate Christmas, but they don’t celebrate it in the way Westerners would. You know, in the West, people go to church, open presents, um…whereas over here, it’s kind of like, just, “l(fā)et’s get together for a party, go to KTV…” that sort of thing. So it is celebrated, but just in a slightly different way.At least that’s my understanding anyway!

　　by and large = generally speaking, on the whole.

　　At least that’s my understanding anyway! – 反正我是這么理解的。

　　4. Do you like public holidays?

　　Yeah I do. You know, it gives me the opportunity to be together with my family for a bit, take some time off, so yeah, I always tend to look forward to them.

　　take some time off = stop work temporarily. E.g. “It’s nice to have a bit of time off.”

　　always tend to = 一般總是

　　Look forward to – 期待

　　5. Which public holidays do you like the most?

　　That’s a good question……. I guess I would have to say The Spring Festival, which I’m sure is most people’s favourite, the main reason being that it’s by far the most important festival in our culture. And so everything feels just a bit different during that time. You know, everyone seems happier, the streets are livelier, and it’s basically just like one long party which stretches on for a week or two. And, it’s also probably the only time of year you can eat and drink to your heart’s content without feeling guilty about it!

　　by far the most …… – 絕對是最……

　　to your heart’s content - 恣意地

　　6. What do other people in your country usually do on public holidays?

　　I can’t speak for everyone, but I guess most people either stay at home or go travelling. And if you’ve ever stayed in China during a public holiday, you’ll have seen for yourself the hordes of people that flock to all the tourist spots, right across the country.

　　hordes of people = lots and lots of people 好多人, 成群結(jié)對

　　flock to… - 蜂擁;群集 If people flock to a particular place or event, a very large number of them go there, usually because it is pleasant or interesting.

　　right across the country – 全國 (“right” is used as emphasis)

　　7. What would you like to do during the next public holiday?

　　Umm…I haven’t really given it much thought actually! But seeing as I went travelling during the last one, I’ll probably just take it easy and spend the time chilling out at home. Something like that!

　　seeing as = considering 考慮到

　　take it easy - relax

　　chill out = relax

　　8. Do you think public holidays are important?

　　Yeah, I think they really are, cos I mean, here in China, the public holidays are always on a certain festival, so it’s one way of helping maintain all the various customs and traditions we have. Just to give you an example, if you took away the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, it probably wouldn’t get the attention it deserved, and over time, people might simply stop bothering with all the customs that are associated with the festival, like dragon-boat racing. So yeah, I think it’s pretty important that we continue to have them.

　　here in China – you can add “here” because you are in China when you’re speaking.

　　over time =隨著時間的過去

　　bothering with = caring about 在乎

　　9. Do you think there should be more public holidays in your country?

　　No, not really, if I’m gonna be honest with you. I mean, I think we have enough as it is. Almost every month there seems to be a public holiday of some sort, and you know, I think that’s more or less enough. There’s no need to go over the top with them , otherwise, ……. , I guess it would break up the momentum of our daily lives, if that makes sense!

　　more or less = 差不多