特别需要掌握的语言功能有如下几种：
1、Greetings and Farewells
2、Making Introductions
3、Asking for Information
4、Invitations
5、Making Requests
6、Asking for and Giving Opinions
7、Agreeing and Disagreeing
8、Apologizing and Complaining
9、Congratulations and Compliments
对于表达这些功能的句型或语言结构必须反复练习，力求做到"脱口而出"。除此之外，不要学会在具体情景下所采用的表达用语，如Telephoning, Asking the way, Travel by bus, At the post office, In a restaurant 和 Seeing the doctor等。同时，我们要求考生能把上述的语言功能与具体情景配合起来使用，以便提高在特定的情景下口头表达的准确性、流利性和得体性。
口语考试中的第三题是就日常生活和社会生活中的一般话题进行自由交谈和专题讨论。考生反映这道题比较难不容易考好。为了帮助考生准备口语考试，下面介绍一下日常生活和社会生活中的一般话题包括哪些内容。口试中涉及的主要话题如下：
1) Home and family
2) Food and drink
3) Medicine
4) Smoking and health
5) Work and leisure
6) Travel and transport
7) Sport and recreation
8) Education
9) Language learning
10) Plants and animals
11) Love and marriage
12) Women's role in society
13) Television and radio
14) Pollution and the environment
15) Holidays and festivals
16) Religion and belief
17) Computers
18) Tourism
19) Social change and traditions
20) War and peace
考试程序：(对北外考场的回忆，不一定准确)
--楼外排队(和报名时一样);
--进第一预备室(大队人马上好几层楼);
--等待(不用紧张^_^ );
--进第二预备室(一次放进十到二十人);
--抽考题纸(一共就可数的几类考题纸，就是说，有好几个人抽到的题是一样的);
--读题、理解、消化和思考，准备回答问题(大概有五分钟到十分钟时间，记不清了);
--进考场(一次一人，面对两个老师)，回答问题，和老师对话;
--离开(这时才感觉到其实非常简单轻松!)。
考试题型：(在抽到的考题纸上，共三题)
水一：
第一题，在预备教室内默读考题纸上的一小段对话，准备到考试教室就对话内容回答几道问题(由老师口头提问);
第二题，考题纸上给出了三种情景，准备回答就如何应对其中一个情景的问题(只考其中一个情景，但都要准备);
第三题，考题纸上给出了一个话题和几个就此话题老师会提的问题，脑子里迅速打个草稿，准备和老师在此话题上进行一段对话(主要是自己陈述)。
水二：
和水一大致相同。第一题的对话内容相比水一稍长稍复杂;第二题和水一区别不大;第三题，在考题纸上给出两个话题，老师会选其中一个考，形式和水一相同。
其实题型看一下教育报上的模拟试题就清楚了，怕大多数同学没买到那两期教育报，我还是贴上来给大家参考吧：
水平考试(一)口试模拟试题(1)
I.Read aloud the following dialogue and be prepared to answer some questions about it .
Alex: So what are you going to do after graduation, Susan?
Susan: Well, I've saved some money, and I think I'd really like to travel.
Alex: Lucky you. That sounds exciting!
Susan: Yeah. Then I plan to get a job and my new apartment.
Alex: Oh, you're not going to live at home?
Susan: No, I don't want to live with my parents-not after I start to work.
Alex: I know what you mean.
Susan: What about you, Alex? Do you have any plans yet?
Alex: I'm going to get a job and live at home. I'm broke, and I want to pay off my student loan!
Susan: What kind of job do you want go get?
Alex: I hope to find a job where I can make a lot of money!
II.Three different situations are given below and you will be required to respond to them in the examination.
1. You are a visitor in town and someone asks you the way to the nearest post office. You don't know. What do you say?
2. You want to invite a friend to dine out at the weekend. What do you say?
3. Someone offers to carry the heavy suitcase for you but you refuse. What do you say?
III.Talk about the following topic with the examiner speaking at 120 words per minute.
Tell me about your family
1. Where do your parents live?
2. What do they do?
3. Do you have any brothers or sisters? What do they do?
4. You live with your parents, don't you? Why do you live away from your parents?
5. Do you spend a lot of time with your family? Why not? What sort of things do you do together?
