Chapter 114: The TOEFL Exam
The food and decor at the dinner party were not particularly spectacular, but the standards for the people who attended were high.
Including Principal Xu Jian, there were only five academicians there. The leader of the Suzhou Science and Technology Department was also there.
Lu Zhou saw two acquaintances among these people. One was Secretary Liu of Jin Ling, the other was the former Chief Designer of the China lunar exploration project, Professor Ren Changming at University of Yan.
It was obvious that the professor was disappointed that Lu Zhou rejected his offer to study at the University of Yan. He talked to Lu Zhou for a long time before letting him go.
Secretary Liu did not talk a lot with Lu Zhou, he only greeted him with a smile. The two were not from the same circle so they did not have a common topic. Even their status and level differed. Not to mention, Lu Zhou had previously rejected his offer of Top Ten Chinese Youth.
During the meal, the students sat at three of the tables while the teachers sat at two other tables. The leaders took one table.
There were eleven people in Lu Zhou’s table.
Originally there were only ten chairs and ten pairs of chopsticks on this table, but the president of the student union moved another chair over. As a dumb student, he sat next to the genius from the liberal arts department.
Regardless, the president of the union was proficient in social interactions. Even though he did not have any common topics with the geniuses, he still managed to converse with them. At the same time, he did not come off as overly enthusiastic or annoying.
The food had not even arrived, but he already went around the table and added everyone’s WeChat.
Lu Zhou had always thought that the student union was pretty useless, but he had since changed his opinion. He realized that being the president of the student union would increase one’s emotional and social skills.
Those skills were still important.
However, Lu Zhou did not pay too much attention to the president of the student union. Instead, his attention was on the student from the physics department.
This student was a fourth-year student. Apparently, he was given an offer to study his master’s and PhD at the Chinese Academy Laboratory of Quantum Information. He had published two SCI theses in the field of quantum information condensed matter physics and was considered an impressive genius.
Since Lu Zhou intended to obtain a degree in physics as well, therefore this guy asked him some questions.
“You plan on doing a physics major as well?”
Lu Zhou smiled and asked, “Yeah, do you have any advice?”
Surprised, Zhang Shikun looked at Lu Zhou before he said, “I’m not too familiar with the double major system. But I do know some physics, so I can give you some advice. My field is condensed matter physics, mainly about quantum computing. If you’re interested in this area, you should read about quantum mechanics, quantum field theory and quantum many-body theory. There are a few MIT open courses online about this stuff, I’ll send it to your WeChat.”
Lu Zhou, “Thanks a lot!”
“You’re welcome. Maybe one day I’ll need your help in return,” said Zhang Shikun with a smile. He continued, “I study quantum information science, which requires a high mathematical level. Especially for entanglement and topological phase transitions. Entanglement itself is difficult to measure directly through experiments, so you need a strong mathematical background to decipher the experiments. If you’re interested in quantum information science, we’ll have lots of chances to talk together in the future.”
Suddenly, a guy sitting next to Lu Zhou said, “Why are you guys still talking about academics? How about we go singing later?”
The guy’s name was Li Haoran.
He was in the chemistry department, studying polymer materials.
“I’m not good at singing,” said Lu Zhou euphemistically as he refused the invitation. He knew that his singing was terrible.
Zhang Shikun also shook his head as he said, “I’ve got to go to the laboratory later, but you guys have fun.”
“Wow, you’re all working so hard, I’m feeling the pressure as well,” said Li Haoran as he shook his head. He then turned to Lu Zhou and said, “Student, I’ve read your thesis. That paper about building mathematical models for infrared spectroscopy data. How did you come up with it? Can you teach me?”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “This… I can’t explain it clearly. I just randomly thought of it?”
Li Haoran sighed and said,” Ah, you’re such a genius. Mathematics is like witchcraft to me.”
Lu Zhou smiled and did not respond.
He could not respond.
It was true that he just randomly came up with the idea.
So he did not know what to say.
…
After the annual people awards finished, Lu Zhou stayed in the empty campus for four days.
Soon, the first 2015 TOEFL test began as scheduled.
Lu Zhou arrived at the exam site and signed a confidentiality agreement. He then placed his belongings in a locker and casually walked into the exam room before he started the exam at 8:30 am.
The TOEFL was divided into four sections. Reading, listening, speaking, and writing.
When Lu Zhou received the exam paper, he scanned through the questions before he quickly began to write.
The 8000 vocabulary words for TOEFL sounded scary, but it was not too difficult. Lu Zhou had experience translating theses so this was easy for him.
Not to mention, he spent more than half a month preparing for this exam.
He then quickly finished the four reading questions and placed his pen down. After that, he sat down quietly while he waited for the listening section to begin.
Since he was bored, he began to look at the other exam candidates.
There was a guy biting his pen, and he was still contemplating on the first reading question.
A beautiful girl sat a little further away, and she looked 12 or 13 years old. She was answering questions meticulously.
Why is she taking the test? She looks so young.
Lu Zhou poked his tongue as he was slightly astonished.
He could not understand the reasoning behind rich kids…
After 20 minutes of answering the questions, and an hour of doing nothing, the listening session finally arrived. Lu Zhou considered it a challenge.
However, it was just a small challenge.
The speed of the exam was similar to the TPO listening speed. Lu Zhou was sure that he listened correctly, and answered every question with ease.
Once the listening part was over, there was a 10-minute break.
Lu Zhou then left the examination room and drank some water before he went to the bathroom to relieve himself.
By the time, he returned to the exam room, it was already the hardest part of the exam – Speaking.
Six questions with a total of 20 minutes time given.
When Lu Zhou saw the first question, he smiled.
What’s the most important feature of a good leader? Is this paper talking about me?
Lu Zhou cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone.
“A good leader is supposed to have a vision. Effective leaders and their organizations have an agenda…”
His pronunciation was clear and since he spoke precisely, it should be fine.
The speaking section tested a person’s pronunciation, not vocabulary.
Lu Zhou did a self-evaluation and even though he probably would not get full marks, but 29 marks should be no problem!
After the speaking test, the writing section began immediately.
This part was the easiest for Lu Zhou.
How could it possibly be harder than a thesis?
Lu Zhou swiftly wrote down the essay and at the end of it, he raised his hand to the invigilators. The invigilator came over and allowed Lu Zhou to leave. He then walked with his back straight and proudly left the exam room.
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