CUE CARD: PRESENT/GIFT

Đề: Describe a present or gift someone gave you that you really liked.

You should say:

• what kind of present/gift it was

• who gave it to you

• why he/she gave it to you

and explain why you liked it so much.

Model Answer:

I love receiving gifts. Who doesn’t? Besides, exchanging gifts among ourselves is a great tradition in my part of the world whether there is an occasion for it or not. Anyway, I have been lucky to receive several gifts in my life, but today, I would like to talk about a gift which I liked a bit more than others.

The gift I received was a t-shirt, a polo t-shirt to be exact when I was attending my university. Now, everybody in my family knew how much I actually liked to wear t-shirts. In fact, a perfect-looking t-shirt, made of cotton fabric, and blue jeans were my staple dress whether I was going to meet my boss in his office for a formal meeting or enjoying some football at a stadium with my friends.

However, even though nobody really had anything against my t-shirt wearing habits, my youngest uncle didn’t really like it that much. Of course, I could understand very well why he didn’t like me wearing a t-shirt 24/7, and it was because he thought that only juvenile persons would usually like to wear a t-shirt and jeans. But, I was waiting for a big surprise on my 21st birthday when I found out that a beautiful looking, maroon colour t-shirt, made by the world-famous Polo company, was handed to me as a gift by none other than my youngest uncle! Besides, I felt like my uncle actually had read my mind because, in fact, I had looked for such a beautiful t-shirt of that particular colour for a long time. To be honest, that gift was like a “dream come true” to me!

Well, I liked the gift so much because it had a perfect colour. Besides, it was made of 100 percent, good quality cotton fabric. So naturally, it was very comfortable to wear. Finally, the gift was so special to me because it was presented to me by a person who always had underestimated my preference in dress, especially my preference for wearing a t-shirt.

TỪ VỰNG CHỦ ĐỀ: PRESENT/GIFT

• On sale/on a discount: giảm giá

• At a loss for words: không biết nói gì vì quá bất ngờ (not knowing what to say, especially because you are very surprised or shocked)

• Love seeing one's eyes light up: thích nhìn thấy mắt ai đó sáng bừng lên

• Camaraderie: tình bạn thân thiết 

• Price tag: nhãn giá

• Down-to-earth: thực tế

• Be over the moon: rất vui (to be very pleased)

• Sentimental value: giá trị tình cảm

• Token of gratitude: tượng trưng cho sự biết ơn

• Monetary value of a present: giá trị của một món quà

• Be construed as stingy: bị xem là keo kiệt