Ielts 雅思 口语全攻略 Ideas and Examples for ielts speaking Jeremy Chiron

A Story You Have Heard

Tell me about a story you have heard.
You should say: what the story was about
what happened in the end
where you heard this story
and explain how you felt when you heard this

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  Greek mythological story of Narcissus = a vain man
  
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  Extremely good-looking = but he thought he was too good for any other women= narcissistic
  
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  A nymph called Echo fell in love with him but he made her heartbroken + desperate
  
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  Narcissus was punished to fall in love with himself= died
  
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  Moral = boys should not be cruel to their lovers, not be superficial, but generous and Selfless
  

I want to tell you about a fascinating story I heard from my English teacher at school. It is the legend of a vain man called Narcissus. The tale originates in Greek mythology, and I believe that the story is well-known to every single educated foreigner, but completely foreign to a lot of Chinese people.
Narcissus was a very good-looking man but he thought too much of himself. Although every girl was in love with him, he was too arrogant to take any lady as his girlfriend. Narcissus was simply too self-absorbed to worry about anyone else's feelings.
A beautiful nymph (= young goddess) called Echo admired the young attractive man. She followed him and tried to kiss him, but he violently turned her down, and pushed her away. Echo was so heartbroken and desperate that she ended up alone in the mountains and got weaker and weaker until only her voice remained: the echo.
Because of his selfish behavior, Narcissus was punished by a god. He came across a pool and took a drink from it. As he saw his own reflection, he fell in love with his own image. This is where the term narcissistic comes from. He found himself so handsome that he couldn't get away from his own figure, and died there slowly. It is said that a flower grew in the place he died, and this flower bears his name: narcissus.
I think the moral is very neat: boys should not be cruel to their lovers, and they should be more considerate and thoughtful with girls. Being self-centered and cocky (= proud)is definitely looked down upon in our society, and apparently it can also be dangerous.
Nowadays a lot of young people are too superficial and materialistic: they care too much about appearance. A good boyfriend should be selfless and generous.

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