TOPIC TRUTH

Describe a time when you told your friend an important truth

You should say:

• Who your friend is
• What the truth was
• How your friend reacted
• and explain how you felt about it.

Chúng ta hãy cùng xem những ý tưởng và từ vựng trong chủ đề TRUTH nhé.

1. IDEAS & VOCAB

• You could talk about…

- Expressing your real feelings - (don’t bottle up your feelings)

- Tell your friend - you are angry, sad, irritated, depressed, happy

- You don’t like something they do/ did/ said

- Bad habit (smoking)

- They gossiped, told a secret, lied….

- Praising them

- Confessing you did sth wrong

• Vocab: 

- Telling the truth

- To speak up/ out

- be brave enough to…

- To speak out

to be upfront: to be ur feelings go up front, be honest

- to be frank/ candid

- to share your feelings

- to be open

- to be crystal clear

- to speak plainly = to call a spade a spade

• Idioms

- I didn’t beat about the bush = I went straight to the point

- I didn’t go all around the houses = I went straight to the point

Sau đây là một bài mẫu cho câu hỏi "Describe a time when you told your friend an important truth".

2. SAMPLE

Let me tell you about the time I had to reveal my true feelings to my friend about his habit of smoking. So, Martin, who’s been a friend since we were kids, is now married and has a kid, and he smokes a lot. I mean, he is practically a chain smoker. Well, it got worse when his baby was born. I guess it was partly stress-related, but it troubled me because I knew smoking was bad for his health and bad for those around him due to passive smoking. So, I decided I should say something. To be honest, it was really hard to build up the courage to speak out and I kept putting it off. You know, I didn’t want him to be angry and of course, there was the risk of this damaging our relationship. Finally, I found a good moment to talk to him and I was just really upfront about my feelings about the harm he was doing to himself and above all, to his baby. All said and done, actually, he took it very well. He didn’t fly off the handle or anything. In fact, he agreed with me and said he would try to stop. So I was delighted with him and with myself if the truth be told because I had managed to have a difficult conversation and it had all turned out well.

Dưới đây là phần phân tích bài mẫu, hãy xem để hiểu rõ hơn nhé.

Một vài ví dụ về một số câu hỏi thường gặp trong Part 3, chủ đề TRUTH và gợi ý trả lời.

3. PART 3

• 1. Do you think people should always tell the truth?
• 2. How can we teach children about the importance of telling the truth?
• 3. Why do some people cheat when playing games?
• 4. Is cheating sometimes acceptable?

Answers:

1. Do you think people should always tell the truth?

That’s a tricky question. By and large yes, but you don’t want to always tell the gospel truth, and there are times when a white lie may be a better option. For example, if somebody invites me to their house for dinner and I don’t like the food they have cooked, I will probably tell a fib, perhaps saying it has an unusual taste, and it’s really interesting to try new dishes. I don’t think that’s deceitful, it’s just being polite.

• Structure

- Opinion: By and large yes….

- Example: For example, if….., I will…

- Summary: I don’t think that’s ….., it’s just…..

• Collocations

- tell the gospel truth = tell the whole truth

- tell a white lie ( a white lie = little lie, usually to protect somebody or not to upset or make them angry) = tell a fib

3. Why do some people cheat when playing games?

Maybe they are just extremely competitive and don’t like losing. When it comes to games, I guess they prioritize winning over honesty. Look at football players in the big championship matches, right? They fake falling and things like that because so much is at stake. Generally speaking, I suspect that people cheat because they think they can get away with it. If nobody catches them, then nobody is any wiser and they think “no harm done”!

• Structure

- Opinion: When it comes to….., I guess…

- Example: Look at…., they….

- Summary: Generally speaking, I suspect….

• Collocation

- extremely competitive

- championship matches

• Expressions

- prioritize A over B

- ….is at stake = …is at risk

- to get away = not be found out

- nobody is any wiser = nobody knows about it