Topic: food

Me: Have you tried the muffins in our cafeteria?

Her: Those gigantic granny's muffins?

Me: Yeah.

Her: They probably use one stick of butter for each.

Me: (Laugh) but they taste so good.

Her: I know. I had them awhile ago. I'm on a diet.

Me: How is it?

Her: So far so good. I'm trying to watch what I eat.  Sweets are big no-nos.

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-9-2 1:21:13编辑过]

已奖

(Scene2)Stranger-weather

me: Wow, it's very cold/warm/sunny today.
B: Yes, it is.
me: In my hometown, it's much colder/warmer at this time. I'm from xxx, how about you?
B: blablabla
(Then pick up sth B refered to  and extend to other topics)

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2008-3-16 23:21:54编辑过]

已奖

scene: a long line in front of the ticket booth. Two women were holding there and took a much long time that enough to serve other line. The guy in front of me quited the line and waited at the end of another line, and he got the ticket already but the two women were still there. The guy looked back to us and shruk his shoulder. All people got impatient. Finally they got the tickets, approximately 6. Everybody relaxed.

The woman before me: wow,they are twins.

Me: That is why it makes thing so complicated? !

She laughs and replys: Right, they could not agree with each other and a lot of talk going on.

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2008-3-16 23:22:47编辑过]

参加活动。

Topic: local news

A: how are you?

Me: Good. But my best friend is concerned about the mountain fires around here and called me last night.

A: Oh. The fire is still on and the air is really bad now.

me: It is said to be bad, but I do not feel it.

A: Yesterday evening, I went out to play frisbee, and could not help coughing.

me: Really?

A: Yes. No outdoor sports recently. There're smoke in the air.

再来一个

Topic: new things in the office/cubic

Situation: Meet with someone in his office. Saw a panda plush toy when I stepped in.

me: Hey, that's so cute.

K: This panda?

me: Are u a fun of panda?

K: This is a gift for my niece. You know I went to China earlier, and I bought this for her.

me: Where's she?

K: She's in Chicago. Oh, you remind me. I need to mail it out during lunch time.

已奖

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2008-5-17 12:51:49编辑过]

This topic is really nice. I learned a lot.

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2008-6-21 9:14:55编辑过]

mine experiences:

kids: my manager has two kids, one is 8 years, one is 3 years, so that's a lot topics bringing up everyday around the whole year:

school starts: how is going with the school? how are their homework?

summer break: go to the camp? what did they do in the camp? any special fun today?

house:

house enhance,

house community

house price

401k:

how has the stock market been going? what's kind of portfolio should i choose? any suggestions?

vacation:

always a lot of topics, kills a lot of time

weather:

forecast 1 week or even longer weather condition

how is local weather year around?

sports:

from the weather, go further to the sports: snowing during the winter? i love skii!! any good place for that?

TV:

sex and the city

american idle

etc...

ban zhu, any bonus I could get?

已奖

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2008-10-15 20:49:22编辑过]

Things like the weather are pretty trite, and subjects like religion and politics are no-nos if you don't know a person well.

A good conversation can be opened by asking a person if they've seen a particular movie, read a particular book, or what they think of a certain show, then carry on from there.

But --oh no!--what if they haven't seen/read it? No problem. If it's a movie you asked about, then ask what movies they have seen or what their favorites are.

But what if they say they don't like movies at all? Then ask them what they do like to do in their free time. Open-ended questions are great --asking a person what they do in their spare time means they can't just answer "yes" or "no".

If you're a young person, ask what they like most/least about school. For older people, ask the same about their work.

Most of all, if the other person introduces a topic, don't let it drop. For example, if you ask them if they like a certain movie and they say they mostly like to knit, follow upon the knitting. If you know NOTHING about knitting, that's okay. Ask them what THEY like so much about it, or how they got started.

已奖

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2008-10-15 20:50:01编辑过]

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2008-10-29 20:22:56编辑过]

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2008-10-29 20:23:54编辑过]

In most English-speaking countries, it is normal and necessary to make "small talk" in certain situations. Small talk is a casual form of conversation that "breaks the ice" or fills an awkward silence between people. Even though you may feel shy using your second language, it is sometimes considered rude to say nothing. Just as there are certain times when small talk is appropriate, there are also certain topics that people often discuss during these moments. Read through the Who, What, Where, When, Why? page to gain a better understanding of small talk. The hardest part about making small talk is knowing how to start a conversation. Review the conversation starters and practise them with a friend. Finally, take the time to see how much you have learned about small talk by taking the Small Talk Quiz. And remember, in an English-speaking environment it is often better to make a few mistakes than to say nothing at all!

已奖

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2008-10-29 20:24:38编辑过]

我深有体会small talk的重要性．可我的积分不够，攒呀攒呀．有哪位好心mm能发个总结贴到我的信箱里吗？谢谢！当然我也会积极继续努力攒积分的！

1) what kind of sports do you do during your free time? if he or she does not a sports person at least talk about the shorts game they like.

2) How many kids and how they are doing? Relates to own background like the one child per family policy in China. I feel many ppl are interested in this.

3) Comments on your colleague's office or cubics, like many folders and documents on desk, or family photos, and extend the chat on the corresponding track

4) Be attentative to what kinds of TV program or movies your officemates are intested in and spent sometime on similar ones and then brought up some talk or discussion on that.

5) As a forneigner, I sometime use my intention of perfecting my language skills as a talk topic.

Hope these inspire more! And I will get some mei li out of it:)

已奖

[此贴子已经被Alexandria于2009-5-4 18:19:07编辑过]