Cue Card Sample

IELTS Cue Card # 209 - True story that is popular among people

IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.

Describe a true story that is very popular among people in your country.

You should say:

  • what the story is about
  • why it is popular
  • when you first heard the story

and explain how you feel about this story and its popularity.


 

Model Answer 1:
Many true stories are popular among the people in my country, but not all of them arouse the same kind of passion or interests among them as the story of the prince of “Bhawal” who was presumed to be dead a decade earlier, only to be found alive again a decade later. The story goes like this...

His name was Ramendra Narayan Roy, and he was one of the Kumars (or a "prince") of the Bhawal Estate, a large zamindari (an aristocratic landowner) in Bengal in modern-day Bangladesh.  He was one of three brothers who had inherited the estate from their father. He was popularly known to people as "mejokumar" (the second prince of the three princes). Long story short, Ramendra Narayan Roy was reported to have died on 7 May at the age of 25. The reported cause of death was biliary colic (gallstones). His body was supposedly cremated in Darjeeling (West Bengal, India) the next day in a customary funerary rite. And, that should have been the end of the story.

But, it wasn’t, and that’s exactly why it became so popular in the subsequent years. In fact, the “dead prince”, was found to be alive in April of the year 1921.  Later on, it also became apparent that the prince was actually poisoned by his own family members. But, he was eventually found and saved by a “saint” who nursed him back to life. He recovered, but suffered a memory loss and wandered India for the next 10 years before returning home to Dhaka in 1920, where he recovered his memory back again. By the way, I heard this story for the first time from my grandfather about 18 years ago.

Anyway, I think that the popularity of this story lies in the fact that people always have some kind of soft corner for tragedies, involving innocent people like Prince Ramendra Narayan Roy, who became the victim of power politics and conspiracy. But, somehow, the truth always comes out sooner or later just as it did in the case of this poor prince.


 

Sample Answer 2:
There are many true stories that people in my country often talk about. One such story is the success story of Mr Arthur who is a living legend and is one of the top ten richest businessmen in the country. This story is about his determination, struggle, fight against adversity and finally victory.

The story starts with a 15 years old teenager who came to the capital city virtually with no money and no one to turn to and started working as a petty hawker. But the dream and determination he had, and the patience he showed were immeasurable. He had to face severe adversities and yet he never lost his faith and perseverance. With hard work and determination, he continued his journey. He proved the fact that fortune favours the brave- one more time.

In his early life, he had never stopped dreaming and working to fulfil them - a great virtue as a youngster. Over time, he attained some success and became a small business owner. But, he did not stop there. He continued to work even harder and envisioned even bigger dreams. Thus he started piling up the success and from a moderate businessman, he became one of the enviable and exemplary business magnets. Now he is one of the top ten richest and successful persons in the country and his fortune is hard-earned.

This is a popular story in our country and people often mention it to give an example of a successful man who has fought hard to achieve it. We often mention this story to inspire people and to advise them on how to be determined and hardworking to achieve their dreams.

For the first time, I heard this story from one of my school teachers and I was around 11 years old then. As a college student, a few years later, I read an article in a magazine about Mr Arthur's struggle, determination and success. It was a good read.

I think this is a very inspiring story that advises us to have our dreams and to work hard to achieve those dreams. If your determination is hard, plannings are proper and if you work accordingly to achieve it, no matter how many obstacles come, you would overcome them and this is the lesson this true story teaches us.



Similar Cue Card Topics

Your ability to talk about this Cue Card Topic would enable you to talk about the following Cue Card Topics as well:

  1. Describe a story you remember.
  2. Describe a true story that impressed you.
  3. Describe a popular story you heard in your childhood.
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 4.36 (7 Votes)