雅思考试委员会全球总监：剑七难度没有增加
旅英学者、牛津大学访问学者吴慧冬老师于2009年7月至12月以牛津大学和剑桥大学访问学者的身份先后访问了英国牛津大学，剑桥大学在内的综合排名前十名的大学，与各学校校长、招生办主任、国际办公室主任等校领导会面，向中国学生揭露名校录取的“潜规则”。以下为与雅思考试委员会全球总监Dr. Rod对话实录。
吴：博士，很高兴您的邀请，能请您介绍一些雅思改革的最新状况吗？
D：我们在培训类的考试中做了一些小的改变，在英国，澳大利亚，新西兰和加拿大也开了相关的会议。我们都知道培训类的考试主要是为了工作或是移民。现在会注重考核有关教育方面的内容。我们在阅读部分的第二部分会有一些调整。以前通常会在培训类的考试里的阅读部分主题有很多学术类别的主题，例如大学生活，如何使用大学图书馆，现在话题已经开始转变向工作方面为主，例如就业，员工利益和员工培训等等。
吴：中国大多数同学会通过考雅思考试来入读英国以及其他英语国家的高校，世界各地都兴起了“讲雅思”的热潮。
D： 当然的，雅思是非常成功的考试，特别在中国。
吴：许多年前学生可能会考托福作为出国的主要语言考试而不是雅思，我想问什么样的原因让雅思流行起来的呢？
D：我觉得是它得到了世界各地的认同。超过6000所大学和机构承认和接受雅思成绩。我觉得得到别人的认同很重要。同时，很多人都觉得这个考试是非常有效的，能真正测试到英国的流利程度。能够呈现出你期望的成绩。
吴：您是怎样保证考试内容的信度和效果呢？
D：我们有一个非常严格的问卷题库形成和管理过程。一般要经过三年时间的考验。每个资料都会经过严格的编辑，前期测试等等，务必让考郑适合全球不同的考生。
吴：那您们的工作人员主要是来自哪里的？
D：我们的考卷测试人员来自全世界，加拿大，新西兰，澳大利亚和英国。非常的有经验并且是专业的写手。他们每天收到来自全世界学生发过的考试内容，与学生有深度的交流，部分和你一样是老师，在剑桥这里研究和写资料。而我自己很少和考生见面。但我们的团队会和考生不断的接触，了解他们。
吴：对于中国的学生，部分人还不太了解雅思，根据官方的数字显示，中国考生在口语和写作方面比较欠缺，对于托福考试来讲，IBT要求学生面对机器进行口语考试，而雅思是人与人的交流。大部分中国学生口语考不好的原因是，面对着陌生人就会紧张。
D：但也有人面对机器考试会紧张，我觉得我们可以谈谈效度。我们的口语考试是通过真人去测试现实生活中的人与人的正常交流，但大多数的机器考试是在电脑上留下资料去考察学生，这就不是真实世界的交流。我觉得面对面的面试才是真正有效度的考试。
吴：博士您自己曾经教过学生吗，您觉得中国学生在学习雅思过程中最大的问题是什么？
D：确实中国学生在听力和阅读方面做了很不错，而口语和写作比较薄弱。这是因为中国学生长期以来都注重听力和阅读，我觉得中国学生要花更多的时间在口语和写作上才有总分的提高。
吴：我知道上一年在口语方面做出了一些的改变，特别在发音方面。很多同学担心口语变得更难，要取得高分不容易。
D：是有改变，以前我们在考核发音这部分的时候，在给分的时候是以2、4、6、8四个分数，现在考官可以给1到9分的任何一个分数，但不会影响太大的，我们也不会让发音不好的学生陷于劣势，所有的考试材料都是进行过预先的使用，通过这种预测，可以保证我们提供的雅思材料是最合适的，不会有文化差异，同时难度各方面都是合适的，而且不会对考生造成一种歧视等等。新的发音改革范围只是为了跟上最新语言测试的趋势。这样的口语改良是注重于不同的发音考核。原来的口语发音考核是比较概况的。我们觉得可以做得更好。
吴：但学生会认为不断和考试改革会不断的变难？
D：他们不应该这样想的，不应该觉得改革意味着更难，刚才讲到的阅读改革，其实难度和改革前是绝对一样的。所以我们会不断的为雅思做测试和评估。
吴：现在国内的同学们比较关心雅思会像托福一样变成机考，对于一些打字慢或者不熟悉电脑操作的同学来讲是非常担心的，我知道雅思机考已经在一些国家试行？
D：是的，在一些国家已经实行并且很成功。我们正在做很多这方面的测试和试行，我们一定要确保机考适合中国学生才会发布，中国学生不需要担心机考的问题，因为是可以选择的，我们不会废除目前的考试形式，如果真的是机考的话，对于电脑操作好的同学是有利的，但只是提供阅读，听力和写作，口语还是要面对面的交流。
吴：剑桥7在6月底发行了，我研究后发现难度与剑桥6几乎一样，但外界很多人说难度加大了，我想听下你的说法？
D：难度一点都没有增加，题目都是差不多
附上内部资料：12月全国雅思口语考试必考考题和参考答案：请同学们务必把这两道题准备好，运用TSE和3D学习法，更多的考试资料留意博客。
An Important Letter You Wrote
You should say
who you wrote to
when you wrote it
what you wrote
and explain why you wanted to write to this person。
or
and explain why you wrote that letter。
I wrote an extremely important letter last year when I was a junior in the college. You can even say it has kind of changed my life. Like many other students, I was a little bit confused about my future at that time. My major is Economics, but I am not really that interested in it. Instead, I like sociology very much. Suddenly it occurred to me that I still had a chance to go after my dream. So I entered the website of a famous University, and found the E-mail address of a professor in Sociology. To be frank, I had hesitated for a while, wondering whether I should write this letter. You know, maybe the professor would think I was unrealistic to make such a decision, or maybe there would be no reply at all. But you never know the result if you don’t try. So I drafted a pretty long letter, introducing myself and explaining my reasons to write the letter. I wrote it so carefully, hoping the professor could feel my sincerity and determination. But I really had no idea whether he would write to me or not. However, just 3 days later when I checked my mail-box, to my surprise, there was a letter from the professor. I held my breath and clicked it open. He gave me some practical suggestions on pursuing a higher degree in sociology. I still remember what he said to me in the end: “If this is really your dream, go for it!” Now I am on my way to realize my dream, and it all began from that important letter。
Describe a time when you had to wait in a traffic jam。
You should say:
when and where it happened
where you were going at that time
what form of transport you were using
what you did while waiting / what you did about the situation
and explain how you felt when you were in that traffic jam。
or
and explain what problems that traffic jam caused for you。
I got stuck in a traffic jam two weeks ago on my way to see my friend. I was sitting on the bus when suddenly it stopped moving. I was on the second floor of the bus so I went to the front to see what was going on. To my surprise, there was a car in front of our bus on great fire! It must have happened a few minutes ago because our bus was right behind it and there were no police or firefighters yet. We were all worried about the driver, but later we found that he had already escaped off the car before all that happened. It was still a myth how the fire had begun. All the vehicles following us got stuck and there came the police and firefighters. They took out some pipes and poured water onto the burning car. Some passengers even took out their mobile phones or cameras. I also took some photos of it so that I could show them to my friend as an explanation of my being late. After all, it was not something usual right? 30 minutes later, the fire was put out and we were allowed to pass. It didn’t cause me too much trouble. Thank god there was nobody hurt in the accident。
