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IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.

Describe a story that was particularly interesting to you.

You should say:

• what it was about
• who told you this story
• when you heard or read this story

and explain why you thought this was an interesting story.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Model Answer 1:
I have had the opportunities to read some good stories which are written by some famous writers from my own country as well as from other parts of the world. But, I have always preferred to read stories of the writers from my own country since they more directly relate to my own culture and lifestyle, and today, I would like to talk about one such story.

Anyway, the story, I read, was about an epic struggle of a farmer who had fought well over a decade against the existence of a very brutal feudal system in his own village. By the way, unlike many European countries as well as the other parts of the world, the feudal system was very much alive in my country even before a couple of hundred years ago or so. And the story was written based on these troubled times when hundreds of thousands of farmers of my country pretty much had to live on the mercy of the many brutal landlords who didn’t know anything except the absolute loyalty of their subjects called the “peasants”.

But, whenever their subjects (i.e. Poor farmers) failed to abide by their harsh feudal system, as the story said, these cruel landlords used to torture them until a complete submission from them was offered. But, then came this poor but very brave farmer who didn’t only refuse to submit but also organized a revolt against his landlord. Eventually, the brave farmer had died, but so did the landlord. By the way, I bought the storybook and read it about a year ago before visiting a historically famous village in my country.

Anyway, this story was interesting to me mainly because it has managed to depict the picture of a village of my country and the lifestyles of the villagers there in such a beautiful and realistic manner. Besides, the story also reminded me of a very sombre fact that a huge sacrifice was made by our ancestors to make our country a peaceful place to live.

Sample Answer 2:
Every story is taken either from human experience or from human imagination and when a story is told, the audiences and readers try to connect it with their own experience or creative thinking. Thus each story is a great one and interesting if this is told to the right audiences in the right tone. An interesting story that I would like to talk about for this cue card topic is not taken from someone's imagination; rather it is taken from a real event. I heard this story from one of my uncles and he told me this story in my childhood and this is still an inspiring story for me.

This is a story about a man who risked his life to save others from an imminent disaster or more accurately from death. It was 1995 and a massive hurricane stroke in the (...say the name of a suburban/ rural area...). As soon as the hurricane hit, the disaster and destruction were everywhere. Many people died and many were injured. Yet many others were trapped in and needed to be rescued and hospitalised immediately. Though there were many rescue workers who were working ceaselessly, they did not have enough time to save all the trapped people. At that time a man named Thomas came forward and made a group of young people in order to arrange a rescue team. Thomas himself was more than 50 years old, yet he had been able to motivate 10-12 other young men of this area to help the trapped people within a very short time.  

They worked really hard for more than 24 hours and as I heard from my uncle, more than 30 people were rescued due to the brave initiative of Thomas. My uncle was one of the team members of this rescue team and every time he mentioned Thomas, I could feel great respect in his voice. It was a great tragedy that Thomas lost his wife and only son in a devastating earthquake a few years later and left the area to settle in a different city. People of this area will always remember his bravery and great courage, at least for the next few decades.  

I have read and heard many other interesting stories but Thomas and his team did something extraordinary and I will always remember how good people among us work selflessly to help others.

Sample Answer 3:
Reading stories is always preferable to me and it is a delight to talk about one of the very best and most interesting stories I have ever read. Now I will discuss the novel - 'The Old Man and the Sea' which appears a very interesting and intriguing story to me.

This is a short novel by Ernest Hemingway. It was written in 1951 and was published in the following year. The entire story is about the struggle of an old man who lives by fishing and how he deals with a large marlin in the sea. In fact, the old fisherman underwent troubles in fishing and was unable to get the desired amount of fish to make his living. He passed 84 days in such condition and on the 85th day, he started a long journey on the sea to change his luck. Though he came in close contact with a large marlin, he was unable to bring the living fish on the shore. The fish was consumed by sharks on his way back home.    

I read the story from the private library of my father. He has a huge collection of books, novels, old documents. He gathered all the books since he was 20. But he did not allow me to read all the books at the earliest stages of my life. Rather he prescribed some of them to me and I guess he wanted me to read books that were suitable for my age. Consequently, he asked me to check the book titled – The Old Man and the Sea when I was 15 years old. I was attracted to the cover page of the book. Though dad said that the book was a novel for all ages, I was surprised by its size and shape. In fact, I was unaware that the book was a short novel. Then I started reading the novel and completed reading it in a single sitting.

Actually, I was passing lazy days that summer. Most of my college mates were out of the city to pass the summer. So, I had nothing to do except reading books and playing video games on my computer. Besides, my dad also left the city for his business. So, I made a phone call and asked for his suggestions to pass the days. He then suggested me reading the book. Following his directives, I bought the book from his library. He also asked me to keep the book in the place I took it from. I followed all of his instructions once the book was read.   

The Old Man and the Sea is one of the greatest works in the arena of literature and I think the best work of Ernest Hemingway. The book brought him fame and contributed to achieving the Noble Prize as well. The plot of the story was interesting and intriguing. There are twists and thrills in the story. The story is about an unfortunate old Cuban fisherman, Santiago and how he tried hard to change his luck. His struggles to change his fishing luck and how he finally came to meet his dream. Unfortunately, the dream partially came into being. Besides, this is the story that was an influential one that has held Hemingway to win the Pulitzer Prize for the fictional story plot. For all such reasons, the story appears interesting to me.
 

More Ideas to talk about this Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card topic:

Topic: Describe a story that was particularly interesting to you.

1. The story centred a seller and a buyer and I heard it from a friend while having a group chat in my place in Dammam in Saudi Arabia. We all planned to get together in the evening and my friend told the narrative. This was an interesting story because I could not think that it will end in a funny way. The beginning was troublesome but the end was interesting indeed. And in fact, the ending was beyond my expectation.

2. I heard the fable about a clever farmer and a fox. My grandmother told the story long ago but still, it has the same appeal to me. On a moonlit night, the world was flooded with a silvery brightness and I heard the story with some of my cousins. The moments were outstanding. And might be the story was simple but had a long-term impact on me for the environment. The story also had some twists that were particularly interesting. considering everything, it was interesting to me.

3. A saying goes that excessive clever people often get cheated for their overconfidence. And I heard a story of similar issues recently. A colleague of mine was telling the story that he had experienced before him. After lunch, we were gossiping about petty issues and suddenly he told the short story. It was amusing because the clever man got his punishment. In fact, it was natural and people who try to prove themselves extra smart are always naturally punished.

4. The story of three runners appeared interesting to me and I did not believe that stories might end this way. All of them won finally for their internal bond. Maria told me the story during the evening break from the college class. The story was interesting as it contained many real-life lessons. Winning a match is not everything in life rather winning a heart is the best success. So, I was inspired by the story and since then tried to win the heart of people. Hence, it was exciting to me.

5. I was not interested in mythological stories but my ideas changed after listening to one of those. Hanson told me the story during a conversation. It was on the evening of Monday last and we met at a café in Vietnam. Both of us were international students in the country and often spent time together. He described the story of the gift of fire. It was interesting because I came to know how the fire came to the earth. Though there are no scientific explanations available backing the story, it was fascinating indeed.  

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