英国牛津大学公布2019本科面试例题及答案！

10月18日牛津又公布了本年度的面试例题和答案，申请牛津的小伙伴们，牛津面试题也是相当有创意了，地球科学的面试可能会给你块石头问你“这个石头看起来什么样”?音乐专业问过“你怎么听音乐”…

　　每年超过20,000人申请牛津本科的3,200个入学名额，会有大约10,000场面试。牛津面试时间安排在12月初到中旬。面试时间一天或超过一天，要看申请的是什么专业。考虑到国际生的距离问题，牛津表示所有医学入围者必须到牛津面试;其他专业采取就近原则，直接到牛津大学面试或接受电话/网络面试。牛津授课主要是小班制和导师制，面试也基本采取这个形式，而面试官极有可能就是你未来的导师。牛津面试看重学术潜力，导师希望发现你对科目的动机和热情。面试结果取决于你的独立思考能力、处理新问题的能力，而不是你的举止、外貌和背景很多面试问题是为了测试你解决问题的能力，如果不知道答案也不用慌，但是尽量积极思考，体现出你对专业的兴趣。

　部分专业面试例题及面试官(官网最新公布)

　　医学/生物医学科学专业

　　面试官: Chris Norbury, The Queen’s College

　　问题:The viruses that infect us are totally epenent on human cells for their reprouction; is it therefore surprising that viruses cause human iseases?

　　Chris:Like most goo interview questions, this coul be a starting point for any number of interesting conversations. Most caniates will have a reasonable unerstaning that viruses are essentially parasitic genetic entities, but the interviewers are not really looking for factual knowlege.

　　In a tutorial-style iscussion, strong caniates will engage with the paraox that viruses nee us for their own reprouction, an yet cause us amage. They might point out that some of our responses to viral infection (such as sneezing) favour the sprea of the virus. The interviewer might steer the iscussion towars viral infections associate with high mortality, an the iea that any virus that kille off its host entirely woul run the risk of extinction – unless it coul infect other host species too. Caniates may have come across examples of viruses that jump from non-human animals to human hosts in this way.

　　We might then ask if the caniate consiers it possible that there are viruses that infect humans an reprouce successfully, but o not cause any isease. How might we go about fining an characterising such viruses? These questions probe selection criteria incluing problem-solving, critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, communication skills, ability to listen an compatibility with the tutorial format.

　　音乐专业

　　面试官: Laura Tunbrige, St Catherine’s College

　　问题:What are the ifferent ways in which you listen to music? How oes that change the way in which you think about what you’re listening to?

　　Laura:Music interviews often have several parts: there may be questions about your interests or on broa topics, an many colleges will give a reaing an/or a short piece of music to look at beforehan, which you will be aske questions about. Some colleagues play music in the interview an, similarly, ask what your thoughts are about it. The point of all this isn’t to fin out what you on’t know but to get a sense of how you rea a text or unerstan a piece of music, an how you think through issues or material. We are very much aware that the types of music people play an care about are varie an the course itself covers a wie range, from global hip hop to Mozart, meieval song to soun art. It’s not a question, then, of liking the right stuff but of fining out how curious you are, an how well you can apply what you alreay know to something new.

　　Stanalone questions like this one, are more unusual, but suggest the kins of topics that might be use to prompt iscussion. The question allows stuents to use their own musical experiences as a starting point for a broaer an more abstract iscussion about the ifferent ways people consume music, the relationship between music an technology, an how music can efine us socially. There might be follow-up questions about whether stuents think a particular way of listening has more worth the others, for example. It coul also prompt other iscussions; for example, we ten inWestern Europeto be silent in concert halls: why might that be an what is the effect? Does it encourage a certain kin of attentiveness an respect? Might it put some people off? What woul be effect of, say, clapping between movements of a symphony to your unerstaning of how the music works?

　　I might also expect to iscuss whether particular types of music suit being listene to in particular ways; whether listening on heaphones changes the way you experience what’s going aroun you; an what makes some sountracks better than others. We are intereste in probing their unerstaning of music an its contexts, so thinking about how you share music with others an how the environment in which you listen to music affects the way you experience it – if you hear the same tracks live, at a festival or concert, what factors change how you hear an think about the music? The stuy of music is about more than just examining compose works, an a question like this gets at that aspect of the course.

　　化学专业

　　面试官: Martin Galpin, University College

　　问题:How many ifferent molecules can be mae from six carbon atoms an twelve hyrogen atoms?

　　Martin:This question gives caniates an opportunity to emonstrate a wie unerstaning of chemistry an there is no simple, immeiate answer.

　　Most caniates woul start by rawing some molecules to construct some that satisfy the requirement of six carbons an twelve hyrogens. If the caniate gets stuck, the interviewer may ask them to explain how many bons they’ expect each carbon an each hyrogen to form. This part of the interview tests caniates’ familiarity with ifferent kins of molecules, their ability to visualise molecules in three imensions an then raw them, an their ability to ecie if two ifferently-rawn molecules are actually equivalent. During this process, the interviewer woul also be looking at how well the caniate respons to prompting.

　　After a few minutes, the interviewer may use the question to move the iscussion towar concepts such as chirality, cis-trans isomerism, ring strain, an isotope effects. Caniates may not have hear of these before, which is fine an to be expecte; the interviewer wants to see how quickly the caniate picks up new concepts an whether they can offer plausible explanations for them. The interviewer might finish the iscussion with a rather more ifficult question, such as ‘is a molecule only stable if all the carbons form four bons?’, thus challenging what is taught at school an getting the caniate to think critically about the nature of a chemical bon.

　　神学与宗教专业

　　面试官: Peter Groves, Worcester College

　　问题:Is religion of value whether or not there is a Go?

　　Peter:This is a question we woul hope any caniate for Theology an Religion woul enjoy answering. It raises a number of issues for them to explore. What is our efinition of religion, an how flui is that efinition? What o we mean by value, an how might it be measure? Are the effects of religion in the past as important as its consequences in the present?

　　A caniate might also want to ask what we mean when we say ‘there is a Go?’ Is affirming this statement enough, or shoul religious or theological enquiry be more specific – is talk of Go in the abstract as helpful as iscussion of particular religious ieas or texts? How woul we construct a case for the value of religion in the absence of belief in Go?

　　A goo answer coul engage with one or more of these problems, an we woul hope in conversation evelop further questions. For example, can we ajuicate competing claims in conversations such as these? Is a worlwie religion such as Christianity or Islam intrinsically more or less valuable because of its number of aherents? Do ethics or aesthetics have a part to play: can I claim religious ieas have value if they inspire great art or music or poetry? Who gets to ecie what is great? Does religion affect this ecision?

　　All these possible questions represent irections in which the conversation might go – none is particularly wrong or right, but strong caniates will see a number of ifferent routes available for them to explore, an coul choose whichever intereste them most.

　　地球科学专业

　　面试官: Conall MacNiocaill, Exeter College

　　问题1:How can we estimate the mass of the atmosphere?

　　Conall:This question can be aresse in variety of ways an aresses several of our selection criteria: an aptitue for analysing an solving a problem using a logical an critical approach; lateral thinking an hypothesis generation; the ability to manipulate quantities an units; an the ability to apply familiar concepts (pressure, force etc.) to unfamiliar situations.

　　Caniates often like to start off by thinking about the composition of the atmosphere, an how we might know that, what its ensity is, an then to ways of estimating its volume. We look to see if there are ways of simplifying the problem: for example, coul you treat the Earth an atmosphere as a sphere slightly larger than the Earth an subtract the volume of the Earth from the larger sphere to get a volume for the atmosphere? The ifficulty with this approach often lies with etermining where the atmosphere ens an how the ensity might vary with altitue, how applicable concepts like the ieal gas law are in these circumstances, an these are uncertainties that we might explore in a iscussion.

　　An alternate approach is to see if there are properties of the atmosphere that we can observe at the surface that might enable us to estimate the mass. One such property is atmospheric pressure, which is a force per unit area. The force can also be escribe as a mass multiplie by an acceleration, which on Earth is the acceleration ue to gravity. Hence, if we have some iea about atmospheric pressure we can calculate the mass pressing own on a unit area. If we can estimate the total surface area of the earth (approximate by the surface area of a sphere) we can therefore calculate the total mass of the atmosphere.

　　面试官: Roger Benson, St Emun Hall

　　问题2:Tell me what this rock looks like.

　　Roger: For this question, you are given a han sample of rock to examine, an are aske to escribe what you see. In the secon part of the question, you are aske to suggest how the rock forme, an why it looks the way it oes (it is mae of crystals of several ifferent types, an the types of crystal vary in their average size).

　　This question oes not rely on pre-existing knowlege of geology or rocks. In fact, what we are intereste in is whether the caniates can make accurate an critical observations (what oes the rock look like?) an are able to interpret the meaning of those observations using their knowlege of physical an chemical processes (reasoning ability: aptitue for analysing an solving problems using logical approaches). As with many of our questions, we on’t want caniates necessarily to tell us the ‘right’ answer straight away. We want to see that they are motivate, an keen to engage with the topic. We on’t want to intimiate or overwhelm the caniates with ifficult questions that they haven’t encountere before. But we o want to see that they can get to grips with new information an use it in their reasoning. So we often provie suggestions an small questions that help to guie the conversation at various points.

　　In the first part of the question, when escribing the rock, we want caniates to organise their observations, so they have some structure. For example, the rock is mae of crystals, some of which have well-efine shapes. The crystals vary in colour an size, an probably represent ifferent chemical compositions (ifferent minerals). The smaller types of crystals generally have less well-efine eges.

　　In the secon part of the question, we want to see that caniates can use their knowlege of crystal formation – from GCSE an possibly A-level – to interpret why the rock appears as it oes. The crystals inicate that the rock forme by crystallisation of molten rock from a liqui to a soli. Some crystals might be larger because they took longer to form.Crystalswith poorly-efine shapes may have forme last, fitting into whatever space was available at the en of the process. These observations can be use to iscuss the history of cooling of molten rock.

　　历史专业

　　面试官: Sian Pooley, Magalen College

　　问题:What can historians not fin out about the past?

　　Sian:The aim of this question is to encourage caniates to think critically, creatively an comparatively about how historians know what happene in the past. I woul use this sort of open question to allow a caniate to talk about the availability of historical evience in whatever time perio, place or theme intereste them from their school-work or wier reaing. For instance, a caniate might start off by saying that they ha been stuying Tuor Englan an historians on’t know much about the lives of the poor because they were less likely to be able to write. Given these lower levels of literacy, we coul then talk about what sources historians can use to learn about the lives of the majority of the population in sixteenth-centuryEnglan. This woul require the caniate to think creatively about alternative sources (an their rawbacks), such as, for instance, criminal court recors in which people who coul not write were require to give oral testimony as witnesses.

　　Historians are always intereste in explaining continuity an change over time, so I might then ask the caniate to compare what historians can know about Tuor Englan to another time perio or place that interests them. For instance, if they ha also stuie theUSAuring the Depression, I might ask the caniate whether the gaps in historical evience are ifferent in interwarAmerica. By thinking comparatively across four hunre years an in ifferent continents, a caniate might be able to raw some thoughtful conclusions. They might want to think about how structures of power have altere over time or about how social norms for what can be recore an kept in archives have change. This is the sort of conversation that no caniate coul preict in avance. The hope is that the iscussion allows caniates to show their unerstaning of, an enthusiasm for, history, an – most importantly – their ability to think inepenently, flexibly, an imaginatively about the past.

　　以上是昨天牛津给出的全部例题。此外，牛津面试页面也给出了更多专业的面试问题以及指导。这里我们先列举部分热门专业的部分面试问题：

　　医学专业

　　Put these countries in orer by their crue mortality (eaths per thousan of the population):Banglaesh,Japan,South Africa, theUK.

　　数学专业

　　Imagine a laer leaning against a vertical wall with its feet on the groun. The mile rung of the laer has been painte a ifferent colour on the sie, so that we can see it when we look at the laer from the sie on. What shape oes that mile rung trace out as the laer falls to the floor?

　　How many ways are there to cover a 2 x n rectangular gri with 2 x 1 tiles?

　　法律专业

　　What oes it mean for someone to ‘take’ another’s car?

　　If the punishment for parking on ouble yellow lines were eath, an therefore noboy i it, woul that be a just an effective law?

　　Shoul it be illegal to run a re light in the mile of the night on an empty roa?

　　PPE专业

　　I agree that air transport contributes to harmful climate change. But whether or not I make a given plane journey, the plane will fly anyway. So there is no moral reason for me not to travel by plane.’ Is this a convincing argument?

　　Are our eaths ba for us?

　　物理专业

　　A ball, initially at rest, is pushe upwars by a constant force for a certain amount of time. Sketch the velocity of the ball as a function of time, from start to when it hits the groun.

　　生物化学专业

　　Woul you expect this compoun to be more soluble in octanol or water? (The stuent will be shown the structure of an organic compoun with functional groups that they will be familiar with from A-level/IB stuies)

　　申请牛津大学，面试真的相当重要了，多少人淘汰在这个环节，与名校遗憾擦肩。毕竟与剑桥相比，牛津的A-level要求宽松很多，但名校也是有固定招生名额的，牛津的面试这关就会卡得相当严格。