IELTS Speaking part 3-follow up questions-Volume 1- (Page 1-11)

What are the most difficult jobs that people do?

I think jobs can be hard for various different reasons. Some professions, such as concert pianist or surgeon, are difficult in the sense that they require a high level of skill that must be developed through many years of study and practice. On the other hand, jobs like police officer, firefighter or soldier might not require such high skill levels, but they are known to be extremely stressful and sometimes traumatic.

Why do you think some people choose to do difficult jobs?

I suppose we all want to do something meaningful. For some people, this means achieving a great ambition that takes years of hard work. People who choose dangerous jobs might do so for altruistic reasons or because they feel it’s their duty to contribute to society.

Do you agree or disagree that all jobs are difficult sometimes?

I would have to disagree with that. I think we all feel that our jobs are difficult or stressful at times, but in the grand scheme of things we have nothing to complain about. A tight deadline or a lost computer file are really just minor inconveniences when compared with the horrors of war that soldiers face, or the life-and-death situations that paramedics see every day.

• Do you want to become famous?

Thank you for your pretty question. Well, it is not easy for me to explain whether I want to be a famous person or not but I definitely want that people should know about me. I have a good number of worst experiences and if I were a celebrity, I mustn’t have to experience those. I am a painter by profession and would like that, people would know about me and my paintings. Basically, I love to paint landscapes and thus have travelled in different parts of the words only to get the right locations for my painting. During the trips, I had to communicate with the people and tell them about my aim so that they could help me in different aspects as I was in distant places from my native land. If I were a famous individual, then they would have come to help me by themselves and even I did not need to seek their help. Besides, I also had to experience some negative effects in immigration (I don’t want to mention the state names where I was neglected as a painter), and the authorities made delay to allow me entering the countries. But imagine if I were a celebrity who is admired across the globe, certainly I would not have to suffer such consequences. Legal barriers would have been easier for me to cross. Besides, I would have gained much wealth as well. But I think I do not need the celebrity status rather people should know about me and respect me from the core of their heart. It will inspire me to paint more attractive and real-life paintings.

• How to become a well-known person in your country?

Hmmm, it is not easy to be a famous person in India. The first thing is that you should have some political connections like you should be related to some political leaders or you can also involve yourself in politics if you want the name and the fame. Besides, mass media plays an important role in making someone famous or replacing him/ her with someone else. If you can be a media personality, it becomes easier for you to be famous. But if you want to be a famous person and lack the aforesaid ways, I have another idea – you can enroll yourself in any reality show. A wide number of reality shows are available in the country and their rating is higher. Many of the people watch those reality shows and you can enroll yourself after your choice. When the show will be aired on air, people across the country will watch you on television. This is a way to get popularity and I can name many of the ordinary people who have become famous with the reality shows. But, if you truly want to be a well-known person, I will suggest you to work hard whatever you are up to. Without a hard work, you do not own a chance to stand. Gradually your chance will sharpen your skills and you will be a renowned one.

• What kind of people can become famous in your country?
Well, fame is not a cheap thing to pursue. Everybody cannot be famous. In India, there are a large number of people who are famous across the world ranging from Subhas Chandra Bose to Bollywood superstar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. They have become famous for their talents, skills and efforts. They are renowned by their name and do not need any other special titles or linkages to be exposed to people. They have become famous for their sincere efforts. They, in fact, did not do anything to be famous rather it is their devotion to the work which has elevated them to the level of the celebrity. So, people who have struggled in the beginning of their career or life and continued the struggle for a certain age, they have become well-known. They may not look similar or may not own the similar qualities but one thing is common among them. All of them have struggled in the beginning. I think you are informed about the issue of Indian independence. That did not come overnight and the leaders had to struggle for long. As a result, they achieved the independence and by the same time, the people who had advanced roles became famous across the country and in the world by the same time. Industry is termed as the key to success but I think it is also the key to be famous in my country.

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of being famous?

Well, everything in the world has two sides – advantageous and disadvantageous. If I consider the advantages of being a famous person, the list will be longer. But if I consider the disadvantages, the list won’t be smaller either. When a famous person moves from places, s/ he receives warm receptions. Often they are invited to the top class parties or at events. Their presences appear to add some extra splendour to the events. They are admired by all at the functions and thus they get some chances to socialise. Using their name and fame they also can earn wealth which is a necessary thing to live on this planet. This is a practical issue. But the negative consequences are also important to remember. If you are a celebrity or famous, you might be feeling uneasy when you are on the street. When you walk through the street, people will gaze at you like you are an alien. Some may try to touch you, talk with you while some intelligent people will try to take a photograph with you. In the beginning, you may have some good feelings but when it will be a regular phenomenon on the streets, you will be fading away with your fame. You cannot do any public work or join at any public programs. Security will be another important issue for you. You need to have proper security arrangement to handle the crowds. If you are in the market to have some stuff, the shopkeepers may charge more than the regular price for your name and fame. You are in a restaurant to satisfy your hunger and people are noticing each of your movements. You cannot take even your meal peacefully out of your home. These are the disadvantages of being famous.

• What do you think of the privacy of a well-known person?

In fact, the well-known persons have no privacy or private life. Each of the events may be exposed to the public. You cannot be surrounded by four walls all the times and thus you need to be out of your home. If you are a politically well-known person and make the slightest mistake, the media will expose the issue which may have disastrous impacts on your personal life. The media often tries to publish some untrue facts aiming to increase their circulation. As a result, the privacy of the well-known person is destroyed. I think, this is not fair actually and they should be allowed to have some private life. When they are exposed to media with some private events it is not a problem at all. The issue is that the exposure is made negative which creates disastrous impacts on them. Often we hear about the media scandals and try to believe that before justifying them. It should not be done and this unethical. Everyone must have their own private business and it should be made easier so that they could enjoy their privacy. They have become famous for their hard efforts and if we do not allow some private spaces for them, it would be wrong for us. Peeping on their window will not be considered as part of decency and the media should give up such silly activities.

• What do you think of the relationship between a well-known person and advertising?

Advertising is the most important way to publicise a product or service. Generally, the common people are eager to know about the private life of the well-known persons or celebrities. Most of the time they try to copy the well-known figures and the multinational companies and corporations take this chance. They hire the celebrities to advertise their products. The well-known persons advertise the products even sometimes being unaware of the product features. The advertisement scripts are written attractively so that the common people could be attracted and the performance of the celebrities, on the advertisement, does the remaining. For instance, Lux is a beautifying soap and different female celebrities advertise for it. The people who are exposed to the advertisement will think that the celebrity is using the soap and why should not they have a try? So, they get the soaps and the producing authority makes the profit with a small investment in the advertisement. I think the relationship between a well-known person and advertisement is clear. The positive image of the well-known person is sold to advertise any product irrespective of quality. But the people who are participating in the advertisements should collect proper information about the product. Unfortunately, if the products are made with below standard materials, they will lose their credibility.

• Would you be influenced by the well-known persons in TV commercials?

If you want to know about my opinion, it is difficult to influence me with the television commercials. I try to justify a product before getting that from any superstore or local markets. Most of the time, I try to find out the quality and quantity instead of being influenced by the TV commercials. In the beginning, I was cheated on many times. I watched the advertisements and went to the stores to get the products. But I did not find the products were made with quality materials or sometimes they were less in quantity. You will laugh at my logic, if a celebrity could be fair using any specific brand soap or fairness cream then there would be not black-coloured people in the world. In fact, the fairness cream or the other cosmetic products cannot make people fair and the complexion has nothing to do with humanity or skills and expertise. After realising the fact, I have given up to be influenced by the advertisement. I always follow my own rules and principals. Before getting any product or service for me, firstly I try to find out the producer and seek their reputation. But sometimes I have to rely on the advertisements as there are no ways to find out of the producer and I took that as an experiment for me.

• Do you often talk about singers with your friends? What do you often talk about?

Oh, yes! I often talk about singers with my buddies in informal gatherings. We all love songs and especially I love listening songs when I paint and mostly prefer the instrumental music. But the discussion topics are nothing special. Often we talk about the private life of the singers and how much they take for their performances. Sometimes, we plan to meet any reputed singer and then cancel the plan with the thought it is nothing special for us. Besides, we also discuss the new release of the singers and how they are popular in the market and such other similar issues. Moreover, planning to attend an upcoming show is the part of our discussion and accordingly, we contribute getting the tickets.

• What kinds of organisations want to find out about people’s opinions?

Thank you for allowing me to answer such an important question. Usually, different organisations need peoples’ opinion over diversified issues and I think the government, advertising agencies or research organisations require the opinions most. If we consider the governmental issue, it is found that the government is always formulating some sort of rules or policies for the betterment of the people and to get a mass consent from the people for the better implementation of the rules or policies, it requires public opinions. Secondly, the advertising agencies require public opinions before or after launching any of their projects or products. Without a massive feedback from the targeted audience, it is impossible to expect the success of any products. Moreover, often the research organisations require public opinions to get informed about any specific issues they are involved with.

• Do you think that questionnaires or surveys are good ways of finding out people’s opinions?
I have a different opinion about questionnaires or surveys undertaken to get public opinions. I think in most of the cases, the exact information is not found in such surveys or interviews with questionnaires. It happens as most of the time the questions cannot represent the actual situations or they are unable to depict the entire scenario to the interviewees. Often the questions are made with wrong consideration and as a result, the exact answers are not found. Sometimes, the questions are too private to answer for the respondents and they turn reluctant in such situations, and if they are insisted on answering, they may provide wrong information which will damage the research. I think, not taking is the best ways to collect people’s opinions. In such cases, a team of two individuals is appointed to talk with the people and note down the speeches.

• What reasons might people have for not wanting to give their opinions?

As I said before that some questions are too private to answer. People usually try to avoid such questions and do not want to provide the exact opinions. Sometimes there are few questions related to the governmental policies and they also do not want to opine on the issues as those are potentially harmful to them. Besides, people do not want to share their information or opinion fearing that those issues may be publicised with their names. It is impossible to provide positive feedbacks most of the times and if those are publicised, they may have some detrimental impacts on their surroundings. Another important reason, I think, is that the data collectors’ failure to convince people over providing information during the data collection period. Since the data collectors are hired on a temporary basis, most of them are unskilled and non-professional and cannot represent the importance of the data collection process.

• Do you think it would be a good idea for schools to ask students their opinions about lessons?

Umm, yes, I think it would be a great idea. Most of the students do not want to learn lessons at home for several reasons and accordingly cut a sorry figure in their exams. A participatory environment could remove the problem to the greatest extent. If the students are asked to opine about their lessons, I think, they would tell about their problems. The most important thing here is that the kids do not want to feel ashamed about their lessons and thereby if they do not understand anything, they remain silent or do not express their inability to understand the topic lest the entire class laugh at him/ her. So, if opinions could be asked for their lessons, they will gladly participate in the process to avoid the complexities of feeling ashamed.

• What would the advantages for schools be if they asked students their opinions?

There would be different advantages if the students are asked to describe their opinions. The first and important advantage, appears to me, is that they will be able to express their preferences. Some of the lessons might be difficult indeed for them and if the teacher asks questions from that specific lesson, there are chances that the students will fail to answer the questions and as a direct consequence, their scores will go down. Besides, if they are asked to opine, they will perform the lessons without any excuse. They would not have the chance to place any objections over the lessons as they decided that earlier. Moreover, when the school authority will ask students about their opinions, the students will start thinking that they are being evaluated by the school authority. It is helpful to expand their mental faculty. These are the few advantages if the school authorities ask about the opinions of the students.

• Would there be any disadvantages in asking students’ opinions?

Well, there might be some disadvantages in this case as well as nothing in the world is without disadvantages. In line with the good performers in a class, there are some naughty students as well who are always looking for chances to make a mess around. So, when the school authorities ask to opine about something, the naughty students try to take advantage of such events. They never agree with the other ordinary students and try to create a chaos in the class. Besides, there are some students, who believe them to be the best of the class, pushing their nose over the issues frequently and hardly allow the other ordinary students to express their opinions. So, asking opinions to the students is not always effective. But another issue should be considered that the opinion seeking is effective for the lower grade as they are not that much wild like the upper-grade students.

• What are some of the main food products (“foods”) that your country produces?

Thanks for asking the question. Australia depends mostly on agriculture and as a result, the cultivation of agricultural products is more here. The country mostly grows wheat, oat, barley, maize, canola, sorghum, field pea, lentil, Lupin, sunflower seed etc. more than the other products. Besides, some other animal food industries have bloomed here greatly. Among them, the most notable are beef industry, lamb industry and pork industry. Beef is considered as one of the main food products after wheat. Fisheries should also be noted here for their substantial presence on the list. Dairy products are also mentionable in this case as the number of dairy farms is not trivial. Most of the agricultural products are grown on vast tracts of lands and at the same time the animal industries are located out of the cities. There are no irrigation facilities available in the city areas and the city environment is not suitable for the crops.

• What are some food products that come from different parts of your country?

Usually, the animal foods come from different parts of the country in line with some of the agro-foods. The dairy farms and animal foods industries are located in different parts of the country and the foods are sent to the cities after having a perfect process. People mostly take the animal foods from the superstores of stores and they collect them from their respective sources. Besides, the wheat, barley and oat also come from different parts. There are no central systems to grow the products in the city. New South Wales produces the largest part of the wheat production in the country while Tasmania produces the lowest part of the oat. The cattle production is one of the most important sources for the beef industry and cattle is raised in different parts of Australia.

• What widely consumed food products are mainly imported into your country?

Well, Australia is not a self-sufficient country in foods and thus requires importing foods from the other countries and world market. The most notable foods it imports include fruits, processed fruits, seafood, different types of vegetables etc. Though the vegetable production amount is notable, it needs to be imported for the huge consumption level. Vegetables are dominant in many of the Australian homes in line with the non-vegetable elements. Interestingly, Australia grows almost all types of agricultural products but it needs to import some specific products like processed fruits. Though the processed fruits are widely consumed by the citizens, there is no fruit processing industry in the state and thus the imports have turned into a profitable business for some of the Australians.

• Do you think it’s important that a country is self-sufficient in food?

Umm! I think it is impossible for a country to be self-sufficient in food production. But it is important to be because when a country starts importing foods from the other countries, the prices of the imported goods get a hike naturally. Then it becomes impossible for the ordinary citizens to get the foods. Only for geographical disadvantages, a country becomes infertile or unable to grow all sorts of agricultural products. The country deprived of the food products may replace the lacking with import and thereby, I do not think that it is important for a country to be self-sufficient in food production.

• Besides food and the product you mentioned earlier, what else is made in your country?
Well, Australia is a country which produces more other products. The most notable elements are wool, sugar cane, poultry, nuts, cereal etc. A large portion of the wool comes from the lamb industry. Poultry farms help meeting the poultry needs of the country. Fruit like apple is another important source of agriculture. Vast tracts of lands are used for apple production. But sometimes the productions are hampered by some specific disorders like droughts and deforestation. But in the recent years, there are no such disorders found. Australia exports its dairy products in the world and is considered as one of the influential entities in producing dairy and agricultural products.

• Do you think the globalisation of industry and commerce is a good thing?

My view on the issue may be different. I actually do not believe that the globalisation of industry and commerce is good for the countries. There are few reasons behind my belief. Firstly, when an industry is transferred to the other countries for globalisation, it actually loses its uniqueness. Besides, the quality of the produced also gets down. For instance, you are skilled in making sculptures and you have an industry in your own country. I am unskilled about the making or process and if I am to replace you suddenly, the results will be worst for my being novice. The issue about the industry is the same. When a traditional industry is shifted to another country or culture, it is a bit difficult for that industry to survive. So, it appears to me that the idea of globalisation, especially in the commerce and industrialisation, is not good to some extent.

• Do you think every country should make everything it needs or should it import some things?

Um! This is a very technical question to answer. It actually differs in certain cases. As I said earlier that it is impossible for a country to be self-sufficient, it is possible for the country to be moderately able enough to support the needs of the country. Definitely, it is impossible for a country to be self-reliant from every aspect but it could produce the necessary things it needs in a sufficient quantity and sometimes it could also sell the excessive produces to meet its own needs. When the unused parts of the productions will be exported, it is expected that the costs for import could be adjusted to some level.

• What are the disadvantages of a country producing everything it needs?

This is true that a country is unable to produce all the things it needs but if it is done in some cases, there would be some negative impacts on the overall economy, I think. When a country will be self-reliant, it will not need any more to import anything from the world market and as a result, the relationships with the other countries will be reduced. Besides, the products inside the country will be cheaper and smuggling of different products which are not produced at all in the country may rise to some larger extents. The currency rate may also fail which will lead to an economic disorder in the country.

• What are some of the main food products (“foods”) that your country produces?

• What are some food products that come from different parts of your country?

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