Music tribute to Imagine (The Voice Performance) -Matt McAndrew; please download it on iTunes or nbc.com/voice.

Topic: A Situation in Which You Used Imagination

Model Answer:

This past summer, I went to Moganshan with three friends for a weekend getaway. The weather was scorching hot but swimming in reservoirs was prohibited because someone was drowned a few days ago. So, we agreed that each of us was to lead an activity during the day.

My friend Andrea, a fashion designer, brought some crayons with her. Led by her, each of us was to draw 4 pictures with a time limit, each based on a theme, then show the work to the rest, let them interpret it and then reveal our intended messages.

It was a quite daunting idea to me because I’ve never been good at drawing. In fact, I have taken maybe 4 drawing lessons so far in my life. Luckily, the themes were mercifully easy: childhood memory, ideal life, politics, and landscape I think.

When I was drawing my ideal life, I visualized a very idyllic picture: a piece of farmland with crops, a small orchard with ripe red apples, a big dog that can guard the land, some laying chickens, and a bungalow to live in.

It didn’t take me long to pull together these elements since I’ve always been a nature lover and envied the life that the famous American essayist E.B.White lived: writing a column and living on a farm, away from the chaotic city, and blessed by the quietude and peacefulness of the country.

It didn’t take long for my friends to figure out the meaning of my drawing either, partly because they know me, but mostly I believe due to its simplicity.