Directions: Talk on the following topic for at least 5 minutes. Be sure to make your point clear and supporting details adequate. You should also be ready to answer any questions raised by the examiners during your talk. You need to have your name and registration number recorded. Start your talk with “My name is ...” “My registration number is ...”
Read the following passages:
The banquet for Chinese billionaires held by two of the richest Americans, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett is dubbed by local media as the Hongmen Banquet, a historical anecdote indicating a feast or meeting set up as a trap for the invited.
Amid concerns that the hosts would pressure wealthy Chinese to donate to the Giving Pledge project they initiated in June to persuade US billionaires to leave most of their wealth to charity, only a small number of Chinese businessmen had accepted their invitations to the dinner as of last week, which created a stir over the willingness of China's rich to give their money away for a good cause. A fierce debate has been ignited on the merits and difficulty of philanthropy and charity for the country's newly wealthy.
Answer the following questions in your own words:
Why is the banquet considered as the Hongmen Banquet? What are the merits and difficulties of philanthropy and charity? People's view towards donation varies widely in western countries and in China. What might be the reasons?