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IELTS Speaking Task # Cue Card
Describe something useful you borrowed from another person
What it was
When it was
Who you borrowed it from
Why you borrowed it
Explain how you felt about borrowing the item.
Cue Card borrowed from someone that was very useful
To be honest, I avoid borrowing as much as I can. However, sometimes it becomes the need of the hour. Today, I’d like to talk about one such incident. I work as a senior tour executive in a multinational travel company. Meeting clients and providing information about our top tourist attractions are my primary responsibilities. We have a large customer base and this keeps me very busy on most of the days.
Normally, the workload is manageable but it increases considerably during the peak seasons. I can vividly recall a day when four 1-hour presentations were scheduled in the first half of the day. Fortunately, three of them went smoothly without any problem. But, in the last one, my laptop stopped working. Its screen became blue and no key seemed to work. It was a helpless situation at a client site, for a moment I felt embarrassed. Without thinking too much, I asked the audience if I could borrow a laptop from someone. A gentleman came forward and gave his laptop to me.
Luckily, I had a pen drive with all the required details. Setting up the borrowed laptop and combining the data didn’t take long and I could finish the remaining presentation without any more hiccups. In the end, I apologized the organizers for the inconvenience caused and thanked everyone for their co-operation.
From the piece I just narrated, one can tell I didn’t give the action much consideration. Although looking back now, I see how this could have easily flustered me, had this occurred earlier on in my career; back when I considered relying on others to be a weakness. Now though, I didn’t feel any shame in asking for help via borrowing of that laptop, working in a team helped me understand that giving and borrowing is a big part of any team’s success.
Follow-up questions
Q1: What are the most common things people borrow?
Ans: I think money tops the list of most commonly borrowed items. Stationery, books, Cycle, Motocycle, games are some other popular things which people tend to borrow.
Q2: Why do some people borrow things instead of buying them?
Ans: In my view, there are two main reasons why this happens. Firstly, there is a lack of money to buy something and secondly, the duration for which it is needed is considerably short. I’d like to give an example. Suppose someone needs a book just for reviewing or reading and there are financial constraints, for them borrowing the book tends to be a far better alternative than buying.
Q3: Do you think borrowing money is good?
Ans: It’s a hard question. Borrowing some money in case of any emergency is acceptable to me. This is because difficult times are a part of life. But, we should never develop the habit of borrowing money. It can make our life miserable.
Q4: What kinds of problems are associated with borrowing things?
Ans: Borrowing common things like books or two-wheeler generally doesn’t cause big problems. But, a large amount of money borrowed can wreak havoc on almost everything, be it the relationship or the quality of life. I know it’s easier said than done but we should think twice before deciding to take a big sum from anyone, otherwise it can have far-reaching implications.
Q5: What would you do if someone didn’t return the money they borrowed from you?
Ans: It depends on the amount of money I had lent. If the amount was small, I’d ignore it. For a large sum, I would’ve to think about a way to get it back.