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Describe a famous person you are interested in. You should say:
- who this person is and how do you know about him/her
- what sort of life did the person have before becoming famous
- how did this person become famous
- explain why you like this person
Sample Answer
I’m not the kind of person who follows the famous online through Twitter or Instagram or whatever, to be honest. However, one person I tend to read about whenever she’s in the news is the Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg.
It must have been around 4 or 5 years ago that she first came to my notice, well, not only mine of course. Her “school strike for climate” protest movement was headline news and her presence at the 2019 UN Climate Summit, where she gave a speech condemning world leaders for their inaction really put her in the spotlight.
I know next to nothing about her life before she first became front page news though I read one article about her family background as the daughter of artistic parents and the fact that she became very withdrawn in her early teens, did not socialise with her peers and had a hard time at school.
I’m not so sure her rise to fame was meteoric like a pop star or something but she seemed to be in the news all the time a year or so back, attending climate conferences, giving speeches, leading protest marches and so on. I admire the way she has handled herself in the face of criticism from those in powerful positions in politics, business and the media, from those much older than herself. I think what strikes me most is how she has become an inspiration for so many others of her generation to take up the cause of protest against government climate policies and inaction. She is perhaps the voice and face of the climate change movement and while she doesn’t shy away from the cameras, she also seems very aware that it’s not all about her but about issues that threaten the future of our planet.
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See the full list of vocabulary here: IELTS Speaking Vocabulary about People, Personalities and Characters
