Describe a time when you had a problem with a piece of equipment (For example, a TV or a washing machine)
You should say:
What equipment it was
What problem you had
When you had this problem
And explain what you did about this problem. (How you fixed or resolved the problem)

8. 一次设备坏掉的经历（低频题）

When it comes to a piece of broken equipment, um…the first thing that comes to mind is my rice cooker. If memory serves correctly, I bought it online last July. I basically45 use it every day, so it really bothered me when it stopped working properly.

Actually it’s what my friend recommended that I buy. It’s a digital pressure cooker that can be controlled remotely by smartphones. You know, at the time, I had just moved to a new apartment from my campus dorm and needed a cooker to make meals at home, so I bought one from Taobao without a second thought46.

It worked perfectly at the beginning, but it’s a bummer47 because several months ago, I found that it often overcooked the food. I mean, I set it up correctly by following the instructions, but it either cooked the rice too dry or too mushy48.

I bet it must be a defective product49 as it didn’t last for six months before it broke. Since I didn’t know anything about repairing appliances, I had to contact the customer service of this online shop for repair. Fortunately, it was still under warranty50 so the customer service staff apologized to me for this issue. And more importantly, they shipped me a new unit instead. So far, the second cooker still works fine. I hope that history won’t repeat itself51; it’d definitely rain on my parade52.

45 basically: 几乎，差不多
46 without a second thought: 毫不犹豫
47 It’s a bummer: 很糟糕、失望的
48 mushy：水太多，太黏糊了
49 a defective product：残次品
50 under warranty：在保修期内
51 history won’t repeat itself：历史不会重演
52 rain on my parade：让人很郁闷，很扫兴