Could you please record the script at your natural speed? Your recording would be a great model for me to imitate your pronunciation. (The abbreviation "IELTS" (International English Language Testing System) is pronounced as /ˈaɪelts/.) Thank you!
IELTS Books and Films Vocabulary
It’s quite possible that the examiner will ask you questions about your reading habits or ask you to say something about a book you’ve read or a film you’ve seen.
Part 1-style questions
1) Do you like to read books?
Yes … I love reading … I like nothing more than to be engrossed in a good book … I regularly take out books from the library and usually read them from cover to cover in no time … and I can’t go to sleep at night without some good bedtime reading …
2) How often do you go to the cinema?
Unfortunately we don’t have a cinema near us so we have to go into the nearest town to catch the latest movie … I usually avoid seeing the big box-office films which I’m not always keen on seeing … I prefer low-budget films … sci-fi especially … and there’s a great cinema I go to that has frequent showings of films like these …
3) Do you prefer reading books or watching films?
I’m not really a big reader … I find books quite heavy-going … so I much prefer to see a film … perhaps it’s the special effects or the soundtrack … I don’t know … I just prefer a film …
Part 2-style task
Describe a book you have read or a film you have seen. You should say:
• what this book or film was
• when you read or saw it
• why you decided to see the film or read the book
and say if you enjoyed it and why.
I like reading … especially English novels … it’s a great way to improve your vocabulary and there are so many fantastic authors to choose from … one book that came highly recommended by my teacher was The Mayor of Casterbridge … I was studying at a school in the UK at the time and she said it would give me a picture of what life was like years ago in the area I was living … well I have to say I absolutely loved it … it was a real page-turner … it’s a historical novel and the setting was a fictional town called Casterbridge … but actually it was based on a town near where I was studying called Dorchester … it had such a great plot … to cut a long story short it tells the story of the downfall of a man called Henchard the central character who lives during a period of great social change around the time of the industrial revolution … the reason I enjoyed it so much … apart from the great story … it gave me a picture of what life had been like in the place I was studying at the time … I really couldn’t put it down … a fantastic story …
Part 3-style questions
1) Is reading as pleasurable in digital format?
Personally I prefer reading a paperback or hardback … especially if I’m reading a classic which I don’t think feels right as an e-book … but I can see it can be good for others … my grandmother has an e-reader and she loves the way you can enlarge the text …
2) Do you think bookshops will survive the digital revolution?
I think so … at least I hope so … I love flicking through books in a bookshop … online shopping is useful … finding out on Amazon if a book you want has got a good review… maybe getting one that is difficult to find … but I still love the experience of being in a bookshop …
3) Statistics show that visits to the cinema are up despite the availability of DVDs and online downloads. Why do you think this might be?
I think it’s the whole experience that the cinema offers … going out to see a film when it goes on general release … and seeing it on the big screen is more exciting than watching the film at home on TV … especially if it’s an action movie … and watching it with others makes it even more special …
Thank you very much, mecinz45!!!