Describe a time when you helped a friend

You should say:

When it was

How you helped him/her

Why you helped him/her

And how you felt about it

这是一道经历类的话题，注意要加入很多细节，来加强故事（听上去）的真实性，这样考官更偏爱。

帮助朋友大致有几个方面：

学习上（帮助他解决学术问题、陪他考试、帮他找学习资料等）

工作上（帮他修改简历、推荐工作、引荐合作方、配合工作需求等）

生活上（借钱、借宿、帮忙送/取东西、照顾宠物、追女生、上排位等）

• 小问“when it was”什么时候

这就是要你交代故事背景，是什么时候的事情，你的哪位朋友，他遇到了什么困难，如何开口向你求助的，你是欣然答应了么

• 第二小问“How you helped him/her”如何帮助他

这里需要把帮助的经过细节展示出来，时间：他跟你说完第几天后或是马上，地点：在哪里或是在线，人物：仅你们俩或是要找其他人，经过：通过何种方式帮助了他

• 第三小问“Why you helped him/her“为什么帮助他

理由一是感情好，比如你们认识了多久，是什么关系

或者是

理由二是有责任，比如他曾经也帮助过你

理由三是觉得这是举手之劳，他情况挺紧急的，而帮助他也不会让你付出很多成本

理由四是帮助他本身就对你有利，或者他提出给我报酬

• 第四小问“And how you felt about it”你感觉如何

你可以感到快乐，因为帮助到了自己关心的人，帮在乎的人解决他的困难，他快乐所以你也快乐

你也可以感觉后悔，比如低估了这件事的难度，让你比预想中多付出了很多东西，或者借了钱但是担心不还

下面是关于这个话题可以延伸出来的思维图

I’d like to describe an experience that I helped a friend of mine. This friend whose name is Mark is my high school classmate, and we’ve been friends for over 10 years now. Even though, I’ve been living and working in another city in recent years, we still keep in contact and remain close.

It happened two months ago when I received a phone call from Mark. Well, normally we chat on Wechat rather than talk on the phone, so I just had a hunch that there was something serious. Like I expected, Mark felt a little weird in his voice. It felt as if there was something he wanted to say but found it hard to get the words out. In order to help with situation, I just asked him what was going on and urged him tobe straight with me. A it turned out, he was planning to buy a new apartment but was low on money, so he hoped that I would lend him 20,000 yuan for his down payment. Without any hesitation, I said yes and asked for his bank account number so that I could wire the money to him.

The reasons why I helped him were simple. He is my friend, probably the only good friend I’ve ever had and am going to have, so I felt it my responsibility to lend a helping hand, well in this case, money. Besides, 20,000 yuan wasn’t too much for me at that time, but it would mean a lot for Mark and his plan of buying a new house. So, I saw no reason why I shouldn’t help him out. I felt good of course because I just helped a person I really cared about. Mark promised to pay me back in one month, and I wasn’t worried at all because Mark was always good for his words.

地道词汇：

keep in contact and remain close 维持联系且关系紧密

have a hunch 对...有预感

urge sb.  to 敦促某人

be straight with sb. 对某人坦白

down payment 首付

lend a helping hand 伸出援手