Good morning. Good morning. My name is Michelle Ho.
Can you tell me your full name please?
My name is Sin Yuk Cheung Issac.
Can I check your identification?
Of course.
That's fine, thank you. Thank you.
Now in this first part, I'd like to ask you some more questions about yourself, OK?
OK.
Can you describe the area where you live to me?
Well I live in Hong Kong, to be specific in Tseun Wan, which is a residential district
with little commercial elements in it and it is quite a nice community to live in.
What jobs do people in your town do?
Well mostly people in my town are
teachers, lawyers and doctors.
How has your town or city changed over the last 20 years?
Well to say that my town has developed, really developed a lot and and many old
buildings were torn down and I was kind of sad about it because I lived in my
district like for my entire life and but there are some great features about the
new buildings like the new malls, and the new shops and new places to hang with my
friends, so there is benefits ... and there are benefits and some disadvantages, yeah.
Do you think it is better to live in the centre of town or outside in the country?
Well I believe that living inside the town is much better than living in the
countryside because it gets more convenient to travel to different places
around the city and living in countryside often have some undesirable
pests, so I don't like pests so much, so I like to prefer staying in city.
Now, let's go on to reading. Do you enjoy reading?
Well I enjoy reading, and I read
a lot of books, especially those ... those fictions, because I find that when I'm
reading I can immense (immerse) myself into a different world and I can really dump
away all those troubles in my real life.
What sort of things do you like to read?
Well I like reading fictions as it
provides you with a completely new world, especially those science fiction ... science
fiction novels, which gives you chance to like to flow through space and to explore
the universe and something like that.
Tell me something about your favourite book.
Well my favourite book is actually not a science fiction novel. It is a kind of
political novel. It is the 1984 by George Orwell, and, and it is quite
shocking.
After I read it, about how a régime can monitor the people, and what's more
shocking is that many governments, even the those governments that claim to be
free, also uses such method to control the people, so that the horror it depicts in
the novel is kind of ... kind of reflected in the real society nowadays, so it really
influences me the most, yeah.
What are the advantages of reading instead of watching television or going
to the cinema?
Well I think the major advantage over, of books over movie and TV shows is that it
gives you the
space to imagine as the TV, both TV and films would limit your imagination by
showing the images the director wants you to see but when the writer creates a world
and with his words, his or her words, you can imagine
according to his or her words, and also adding to your own personal experience,
so I think this is the magnificent ... magnificent point of reading books.
Now, let's talk about transport. How did you come here today?
Well I come here ... I came here today by MTR.
What is public transport like in your town?
Well, the major public transport in my country is the railway, the underground
railway, and also buses and they are quite convenient
unlike most countries, because Hong Kong is a small city and ... but the traffic
demand is high, so they often have a tight (frequent) schedule so it won't take long for
people to wait for the transportation.
OK. Now I'm going to give you a topic and I'd like you to talk about this for one to
two minutes.
You will have one minute to prepare.
Do you understand?
Yes.
Here is a pencil and paper for writing notes,
and here is your topic.
Please do not write anything on the topic paper.
I'd let you to talk about an exciting experience.
Alright? Remember, you have one to two minutes for this,
so don't worry if I stop you.
I'll tell you when the time is up.
Can you start speaking now please?
So, I would say the most exciting experience
in my life was last summer when I had my graduation trip in Taiwan, and what
happened exactly is that I rent a bike in the city in Taiwan from the hotel and
I was planning to ... to watch the sunset in the ... in the coast line and after I
I left ... when I left the park, it was already ... and it was already night, so everything
was dark, and as I was riding a bike, so I have to use the road with heavy
traffics, and there are a lot of motorbikes in Taiwan, so I accidentally
crashed into one of the motorbikes and I got slightly injured and then I was
received ... I was received (picked up) by a house owner nearby and he invited me into his
house and he treated me well, and but when I want to get back to the hotel, I find out
that I forgot my way and I'd even forgot the name of the hotel, so I don't know what to do
I was desperate, by then, but the house owner was great enough to ask around, to tell,
to call each hotel and find out whether my friend is in the hotel or not,
and by some miracle, he found where my hotel is, and he personally drive me,
drove me back to the hotel.
Thank you. Would you like to do this again?
Well, I don't think I would like to crash my bike again, especially it's not mine.
I rent it. And, but if any of the bad things ever happen again, I was ... I would be happy
to be ... to be received by such ... hospitable person and that was quite an
exciting and unforgetting (unforgettable) experience.
Thank you. Can I take the paper and pencil back please?
Thank you.
We've been talking about an exciting experience in your life.
Now I'd like to discuss with you one or two more general questions relating to this topic.
First, let's consider taking risks.
What risks should people try to avoid?
Well, I think that those risk which would
endanger lives should be avoided, like the new sports currently, the "parkour",
which some may play normally in parks using park benches or wall or short walls
to play parkour, but some people may be too dangerous and they play on the
rooftops and they took selfies on a rooftop which is quite a dangerous thing,
considering that not only you will fall off the building and die,
you could also injure someone who is walking below on the streets, so taking ...
it is important for you to consider your own safety as well as other's safety in
carrying dangerous actions, yeah.
So do you think the government should set up some legislation to
prevent people from taking such risks?
Well I think that is quite hard for the government is set up a legis ... to set up
legislation to forbid people from committing (undertaking) dangerous acts because
everyone has their right to do whatever they want as long as it is not
doing harm to others but they can do things to harm themselves and they can
say that this is their human right, and you can't violate it.
Do you think people take fewer risks as they grow older?
Well, I believe that is ... that is right, because as a person gets older he or she
knows more about the world, and maybe they have a lot more detachment (attachments), like to
attach to their partners, to their families, to their children, and they have too much
responsibility in their hands, they can't take risks no more so they will tend to
be more conservative when they get older.
Now let's move on to adventure.
How important is it to have adventures in our lives?
Well having adventure in
our lives is so important because it not only ... get you out of your comfort zone,
you get to ... you get to know yourself ... you get to discover
yourself in a different aspect from what you have already empowered (envisaged) and
you've got (get) to explore your potentials to a certain extent that you may
actually acquire new skills, and also not the most important thing about having
adventure is to be exciting about your life instead of like working like robot
every day, and be really a human.
Do you think people in your country are adventurous?
Well, I say the people in my country are not quite adventurous. They tend to be
more conservative and careful about their moves (actions) because what they
really ... what they really hope for is a house, a car, a family, that's all they want,
they don't want any surprises, and even the word "surprises" sometimes (is) negative in
Chinese. So I would say they don't like adventures.
What do people learn about themselves from having adventures?
Well personally, I learned, what I learned from adventures that I find out
that I have certain skills like when I got lost in Taiwan I find out that my
some people do not trust other people easily but when their ... the house owner
received me, I was, I have complete faith in him, so I find out that I can be
confident with someone I don't know. I can be comfortable with total strangers.
So this is my kind of power in ... after having adventures.
Thank you. That's the end of the speaking test.