北美的大学教师里是什么样的场景呢?我们可以通过task4来大概的了解一下，希望可以为大家备考托福口语提供一定的思路，也希望大家多多的总结经验，提升托福口语能力。
第四题包含了听说读三项内容，首先要在45s内阅读一篇75-100字左右的学术短文，内容会涉及某个学术名词以及该名词的定义解释。之后，听力部分会是一段课堂内容节选，教授会引用一个或两个具体的实例来解释说明阅读短文中的学术概念。最后，同学们需要将阅读和听力部分所记录的重点复述出来。
下面，让我们来熟悉一下这种题型，看如何在阅读短文时掌握大概内容，从上课内容中听出细节，最后将两者联系起来回答问题，。
Reading Part:
Groupthink
One process by which groups may make bad or irrational decisions is known as groupthink. Individual members of a group attempt to conform their opinions to what they believe to be the group consensus even though the result may be negative. There are many reasons why groupthink happens. These include the desire to be liked, fear of losing a job, or even not wanting to be the one employee delaying a decision that seems inevitable. These kinds of implicit pressures to conform lead group members to ultimately make decisions that each, by himself or herself, might normally not make.
Reading keys.
(1.1) Term: groupthink.
(1.2) Definition: sometimes people make bad or irrational decision within a group
(1.3) Why do we do it?
(1.3.1) Desire to be liked, fear of losing a job.
(1.3.2) Not wanting to be the only one that’s holding up the vote.
Listening Part:
Now listen to part of a lecture on this topic in a business management class.
(male professor)
So, let me tell you about my own experiences when I was working for a computer company a couple of years ago.
So, one day a co-worker and I suggested we should give our computers a design make-over: make them look more up-to-date. Market research was showing that new customers said they would be more interested in buying our computers if they looked cooler. Our technology was advanced but the outside design looked really old-fashioned.
At first, more than half the group supported us. There were a few senior managers here who didn’t support the design change. One of the senior manager said, “Our focus has always been on technology, changing the look is an unnecessary cost.”
Almost immediately, some of our supporters changed their minds! Even my co-worker changed his mind! When I asked him why after the meeting, he told me he didn’t want to make a bad impression on the senior managers. He thought that disagreeing with them might jeopardize his chances of getting a promotion by not looking like a team-player.
What about me? I hate to admit it, but, after a few hours of discussion, I started wondering if it was worth everyone’s time to argue about this? As more people sided with the senior management, I started to feel that I was the only one holding up the vote. Everyone else seemed to think change wasn’t necessary. I voted against my own idea in the end.
So we unanimously decided to stay with the current old-looking design. But this decision ended up costing us a lot of money. That same year, our competitor came out with a new design that attracted some of our customers and prevented us from profiting from new customers.
Question:
Explain groupthink and its effects. Using the example of the computer company.
1. Listening keys.
(1) Professor and coworker wanted to change the look of their computer.
(2) Manager disagreed.
（3) Coworker changed his mind.
(3.1) Did not want to leave a bad impression on the managers.
(4) Professor changed his mind as well.
(4.1) Did not want to be the only one that’s holding up the vote.
(5) They were all wrong.
(5.1) A competitor came out with a new design that attracted many costumers.
词汇：irrational：adj 不合理的;无理性的;
Groupthink：集体处理，集体审议
Conform：v符合，遵照，适应环境
Inevitable：adj必然的，不可避免的
make-over：大转变;
jeopardize：v危害
重要句子：
1 One process by which groups may make bad or irrational decisions is known as groupthink.开头第一句话给groupthink下了一个定义，符合开头原则，所以在文章中的第一句话需要大家特别关注。
2 There are many reasons why groupthink happens. These include the desire to be liked, fear of losing a job, or even not wanting to be the one employee delaying a decision that seems inevitable.
There are many reasons why groupthink happens.提示接下来会出现一些理由。这里需要考生特别关注。
3 So, one day a co-worker and I suggested we should give our computers a design make-over:对话的开始，说明了这个事件。一些连接词是需要大家注意的，有连接词的地方往往暗示了会出现新的观点或者事物。听力中用实例来证明阅读中的观点。
4 When I asked him why after the meeting, he told me he didn’t want to make a bad impression on the senior managers
这里出现了同事改变理由的原因，需要特别注意。
5 That same year, our competitor came out with a new design that attracted some of our customers and prevented us from profiting from new customers.
这个事件的结果证明了大家一致的决定导致了最后竞争的失败。
以上就是前程百利小编要和大家分享的托福口语解题方法，希望大家注意相关的事例以及理由，如果想了解更多考试资讯，下载更多备考资料，欢迎登陆前程百利论坛，最后预祝每一位考生都能考出好成绩。
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