生活类话题时托福口语独立任务部分常出现的话题，涵盖衣食住行兴趣爱好等各方面。有些同学在拿到题目时会觉得无话可说，其实，任何生活类题目我们都可以通过三个方面去拓展思路：1是否省钱？2是否方便？3是否健康？这几方面也是解答大多数生活类题目的万能理由，如同一串金钥匙。下面我们来通过两道例题具体看一下它的应用。

1 Do you prefer to live in a big city or a small city?
根据以上提到的万能理由、我们可以想到以下几点1 money-saving——living in a small city 2 life will be very convenient——living in a big city 3 less population and good for health——living in a small city。根据常识，我们可以很快想到第四个观点4 more entertaining places for relaxation——living in a big city。
针对这道题，如果考生的选择是living in a small city，可以尝试用以下的方式阐述理由：
A lot of people choose a big city to live in after they graduate from the college. To me, however, a small city may be a better choice. The first reason is money. Everything in big cities is very expensive, especially the housing, the price of which has reached an unaffordable level (How expensive). I don’t want to shoulder that much financial burden (Why I should save money). In addition, the pollution problem is very serious in many big cities. The increasing number of cars in big cities are dumping pollution into the air (How serious), which has become the NO.l health hazard for people living there (Why we should live in a place with less pollution).
当然，这道题考生也可以试着从live in a big city的角度来说一说：
More and more people choose small cities to live in. To me, however, living in a big city will be a better choice. The first reason is that it’s very convenient to live in a big city. With a lot of supermarkets and shopping malls, shopping will be easily available. The public transportation is also very convenient, especially the subway. If you want to go somewhere in the city, you can take the subway. Besides, life in a big city is much more exciting. There are a lot of enter taining places like conce rt halls, amusement parks, and museums. They are good places for people to get some relief from all the stress from study or work.

2 Do you prefer to do X sports like rock-climbing or traditional sports like basketball?
由于很多考生没有体验过极限运动，所以这道题看上去不好阐述，但只要应用一下“万能”理由，我们便可以很快想出以下观点1 传统运动比较省钱，省钱体现在运动器材及装备上，可以举一个潜水的例子 2 传统运动比较安全，而极限运动太危险，有时还会危及生命，可以举一个登山的例子 3传统运动比较方便，运动场所比较多，比如说篮球场到处都是，而极限运动需要特定的运动场所。

I prefer traditional sports to X sports. First, doing traditional sports is more economical because it doesn’t need very specific or particular equipment which usually costs a lot of money. Second, generally speaking, the traditional sports are safe while X sports are dangerous. For example, bungee jumping(蹦极跳)is very dangerous for those with heart problems. Third, doing traditional sports are very convenient. You can find a sports field or basketball court anywhere. Sometimes you can even jog along the pavements around your house. But if you want to do X sports, you usually have to find a specific place far from your home. So I prefer traditional sports to X sports.

托福口语部分的备考确实可以遵循借鉴一些“套路”模版，除了本文介绍的这三个拓展思路方式，大家的备考过程中也可以自己总结分析，同时要注意最重要的还是反复练习实践。