距离2018年1月28日
1. Some people like to record their life by sharing pictures and other information on social networking sites. Others keep this information to themselves and never share it online. Which do you prefer?
The world is getting increasingly smaller with the advancement in telecommunication technology: facebook, twitter, blog, wechat and linkedin have linked people in virtually every corner of the world and brought them closer. They may see, hear, read or talk about the same thing at the same time, or, when they do not have the same thing to focus their attention on, they share what they see, hear, read or do individually. There are, clearly, upsides in this modern practice and mentality of sharing, but to me, there are too many downsides for it to be worth trying.
Among other things, it is a source of stress or burden for our friends when we post pictures or other information (about travelling, dining out, any particular service, etc.). They may feel obliged to give their comment to either avoid looking rude or to signal their concern about or interest in you. Sharing relevant information might help us to gain easier access to what we need or to provide a window into a different culture, but it could also be confusing, distracting or even misleading as well. We do not have to look far to see the point – a glance at the numerous traveling tips or blogs, with contradictory direction instructions and a variety of sentimentality, would be more than enough to give us a severe headache.
What’s worse, to post our personal information on a public domain or some social networking site is to expose ourselves or our families and friends to anyone who can get access to the site, hence increasing our chances of becoming the easy targets of cyber crimes. Online crimes such as identity theft, fraud, blackmail and credit card problems are nothing new to us. It is paradoxical that we ask for tougher measures to crack down on online crimes and for a better protection of our privacy while we eagerly expose ourselves, proudly and prominently, to the potential criminals by posting our photos or information on where we go, what we do, or whom we meet, so on and so forth.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, often challenges himself with the question put forward by Dr. Martin Luther King: The most persistent and urgent question in life is – “What are you doing for others?” When we are excited beyond ourselves about what is happening to and around us, anxious to record our life for us or for who knows who, we might as well ask ourselves the same question.
2. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: The car (automobile) has had greater effect to society than the airplane has to.
Opinions vary as to whether car or airplane has exerted a greater impact on our society. Some people believe that the car exerts greater effect, for without a car many of us cannot go to school and office. Others believe that it is airplane that makes long distance travel available, thus impacting the whole world in unthinkable ways. Although there is some element of truth in both arguments, I believe that the automobile is more useful and necessary than the airplane. Admittedly, the advent of airplane realized the flying dream of human beings, which indeed serves as an inspiration and motivation. In other words, thinking that men can fly in the sky gives people courage and confidence when doing other demanding and difficult things. Besides, Airplane has significantly facilitated international travel and global business, thus accelerating the process of globalization. However, after further consideration, I still believe that the automobile has had more effect on the society because of the following reasons.
First, generally speaking, cars are affordable. We can buy a car for thousands of dollars, but we have to pay millions to get a plane and even an airplane ticket can cost thousands of dollars. Last summer I went to New York with my families and we spent 40000RMB on tickets alone. Even people from developed countries find it difficult to afford airplane tickets, not to mention those poor people from developing countries. So a large number of people actually do not have the flying experience. But the automobile is inexpensive and it is not easy to find a person who has never ride on a bus.
The second point to note is that the use of cars can be more intimately connected with our daily life. Trucks transport vegetables and meat to places where there are not enough food to meet the demand of the local people. What’s more fire engines are indispensable for a city too. School buses and commuter buses are also necessary in order for a modern society to run smoothly. The list goes on and on. In short we can afford to live without airplane, but we cannot imagine what a world would be like where there is devoid of cars. Without planes we can search on the Internet for information, use skype to meet our friends and families, take ship to travel to another country. But without a car, many people can only stay near our offices and schools, eat local and monotonous food. Life would be dull and difficult.
Considering the above analysis, we can draw the conclusion that although the plane has its own merits and influences, these merits and influences are less than those of cars. Cars are inexpensive and can better meet our everyday demands. A world without planes is a world without luxuries, but a world without cars is a world deprived of necessities.
3. People often buy products not because they really need but because other people have them.
One defining characteristic of people is the degree to which they follow the public to purchase some commodities they don’t actually need. How people spend money is closely related to the quality of their life. Therefore, when it comes to title issue that whether everyone buys products because others have them, people’s notions vary from one to another. However, from my perspective, as we know nothing in the world is absolute, we have to analyze the issue on a case-by-case basis.
Admittedly, the competing minds can motivate people to purchase something they don't need, especially the young people. Due to the immature psychology of teenagers, they are more likely to be influenced by people around them. It has become a common phenomenon that the female students are keen on pursuing various fashionable clothes while the boys are crazy about the latest electronic products. My brother is a case in point. As a crazy fan of electronic products, my brother always squander his money on constantly buying the latest gadgets and had collected various cell phones such as iPhone 6. With the iPhone Plus being on the market, some of his classmates managed to buy it. My brother required constantly my parents to purchase one for him.
Therefore, young people have not formed a rational habit of spending money so that they buy the products only out of competing minds. However ，adult people will spend money on products according to their own needs because they have a rational view of spending. According to a survey polling 10 thousand people aged over 40 conducted by the Consumer Service Association, most of their expenses are distributed on daily necessities instead of some luxurious. When asked about the questions like what is the most important factor in choosing a certain product, they give the priority to its practicality and quality. Meanwhile, nearly 90% of the interviewed people have the habit of recording everyday cost and make a plan of allocating money. For example，if they want to buy a washing machine, they will compare the prices in various stores and then determine to purchase it. Therefore, the elder people are more prudent in spending money and thus will buy something based on their own. needs.
In the final analysis, we cannot agree that all people buy products not because they need them but because others have them. From my perspective, it depends on the age of people whether we buy some commodities due to the competing mind. To be specific, the youth are more influenced by others in that they haven’t formed a rational concept of consumption. By contrast, what the elder people buy are more determined by their own need, for they are mature and rational.
4. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The food we eat today is much healthier than in the past.
Food is a basic human necessity. As time passed, people have raised their expectations that food is not just something that keeps away hunger. I believe that the food we eat at present is not as healthy as it was in the past.
First, the fast pace of life makes our food less healthy than before. Fast food is a good example. In the past, life was relatively easy for people. They did not need to go to all the way to their companies, transferring buses and trains several times on the way. Their daily schedules were not as filled with meetings and business trips as today. They could all go home to enjoy dinners prepared at home by their family members. However, presently, almost everyone has to focus most of their hours on studying or working, while still trying to squeeze in time for dinner. That is where fast food comes in. The sad truth today is that knowing about the risk of eating junk food, people still rush into KFC and McDonald’s to grab a bite in order to keep their timetable.
What is more, the development of modern agriculture has contributed to unhealthy food. Before modern agriculture developed, every farmer just used natural fertilizer and focused on their limited farmland. However, the population explosion inevitably led to a revolution in modern agriculture technology, which greatly increased crops yields, and meanwhile, generated many food security risks. For instance, widespread usage of chemical pesticide and fertilizer to protected crops from harmful insects and increased production, but the residue of these chemicals directly caused many diseases, such as food poisoning, cancer, malformation and mutation.
Finally, but most importantly, overeating fatty foods has also affected our health adversely. The increase in material wealth of the entire population has created an environment of gluttony and overindulgence in food. For instance, meat, egg and milk now make up a larger proportion of people’s diet than before, increasing the average person’s intake of calories, oil and salt. In many hospitals, rich man’s diseases, like overweight, high blood pressure and diabetes are now commonly seen. This phenomenon, though people are aware of the problem, will continue to last, for we still continue to eat unhealthy food every day.
In conclusion, our diets are less healthy than before. The faster pace of life, the development of modern agriculture and the overeating of unhealthy food has contributed to this situation.
5. A high school has decided that all students must take a class in which they learn a practical skill. School administrators are trying to decide whether to hold a class in cooking, managing personal finances or auto repair. Which do you think the school should require students to take? Why?
In my home country, the curricula in high schools are extremely intense for students. Many high school students are under great pressure at school, and they might feel stressed out if one more required course is added to the busy schedule. However, if they have to choose one course to take, I believe that a cooking class is better than a personal financial management class or auto repair class, because a cooking class could benefit students in different ways.
To begin with, a cooking class could provide students with opportunities to relax and escape from intense academic study for a while. In a cooking class, students neither need to read lots of materials nor to solve complicated mathematic problems. What they need to do is to follow the chef’s instructions and learn how to serve delicious dishes. Moreover, students could cooperate and communicate with each other during the process of cooking. By working cooperatively with their peers, students could learn more about their classmates and thus become friends with each other, which is almost impossible in classrooms where students are forbidden to discuss in my home country. Thus, a cooking class could help students relax in a pleasant atmosphere.
Another advantage of cooking class is that the skill of cooking could benefits students in a long run. In the future, some high students might choose to enter colleges or universities in their home country, whereas others will choose to study abroad. It is possible that many of them will relocate to a new city and live in apartments with roommates. If those students have learned how to cook during high school, they could cook by themselves, and treat their friends with delicious dishes when they have time. In this way, the students could save a lot of money because they do not have to eat outside in restaurants that are usually more expensive than the cost of cooking at home. Moreover, the students’ friends would appreciate a lot being invited to their places and served with mouthwatering dishes. Hence, a cooking class could benefit students even after their graduation.
Compared with a cooking class, a personal financial management course would be too boring because students still need to sit in classrooms and complete difficult tasks. As for an auto-repair course, students might find it dangerous because they need to use tools that they are not familiar with to repair cars. Furthermore, in order to open an auto-repair course, high schools need to spend a lot of money purchasing vehicles and equipment. I am afraid that the administration offices in high schools are not fond of this idea.
Based on the above discussion, a cooking class could benefit students in that they could relieve the pressure from academic learning, and could utilize the skill of cooking in the future.
6. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is difficult to be teachers who are not only popular with students but also can improve their studying efficiency. Use specific reasons and examples or details to support your answer.
At present, a teacher is required not only to know how to teach, but also to be favorable for his students. Although some people believe educators may have difficulty in achieving this, I personally believe that these two are not mutually exclusive.
In the first place, a teacher who has gained popularity among students must have a personal quality such as being patient to tolerate the students who have made some mistakes, showing enthusiasm in class, being humorous. The most important l is to love students and to love the course of teaching. As long as he has the innate love for his profession, he may have enormous zest for his students, and become a teacher favored by students. In addition, teachers like this can easily motivate students’ learning interest, thereby promoting working efficiency. That is to say, they are so trustworthy that they can guide and supervise the learners’ study efficiently.
Secondly, only a teacher who have the teaching faculty can help students develop effective and efficient study skill. In order to have this capability, a teacher should acquire enough knowledge. On the one hand, he should acquire the wide knowledge of philosophy, psychology, education (how to teach), culture, history, geography, etc. On the other hand, he must master much deeper theories in his research field. For example, an English teacher should possess the necessary skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating, among which speaking is of paramount importance. In addition, a good English teacher may have the means to activate his class and give students the opportunities to practice English. Only in this way students can use English and improve their communicative competence. Undoubtedly, these teachers who have succeeded in improving academic performance are favorable for students.
To sum up, based on the reasons I list above, I would regard teachers would achieve the required goals since the former is the foundation of the latter and without the latter, the former cannot be permanent.
7. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? A job with more vacation time but a low salary is better than a job with high salary but less vacation time.
To my thinking, the preference would vary from different people when they are asked about which they like better: a job with more vacation time but a 10w salary or a job with high salary but less vacation time. Normally they can be divided into two types.
The first type of people are those who are still young and just start developing their career. At this time, they have little money that can barely support themselves and they are full of energy to work and have the desire to achieve something in their jobs. In this case ， they might be more suitable to do a job with high salary but less vacation time, Since they need to spend more time on working and earning more money in order to live a decent and comfortable life. It is impossible for them to go on vacation due to the lack of money anyway. By doing jobs with high salary but less vacation time, they can save a large sum of money before they are about to set up families to guarantee the quality of future life. Take my own experience as an example, I chose a teaching job in an education institution, a part of the reason why I made this decision is the high salary. The vacation is very short since there are a 10t of lessons for the teachers to take. But it is not a problem for me and not a problem for most of my colleagues. For we are eager to prove that we are grown up and are able to not only support ourselves but also the people around us.
A job with more vacation time but low salary would be a better choice for those who has to take care of their families. At this time, they may already have gotten married and probably have babies to 100k after, the money they make now are much enough to run their life. They had better choose a job with more vacation time but 10w salary in order to put more attention on caring the family. The time spent on accompanying the wife, the child, and the parents can never be enough. It is generally agreed in our country that no matter how much money you have, you cannot afford to the affection between family members.
There are still some other perspectives that I do not think due to the limited time and experience, such as which is better for those people who have a strong ambition to achieve success and those Who are more inclined to a casual life. As the saying goes， there are no absolutes. Hence critical thinking is in great need when we are faced with question like this.
8. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The ability to cooperate and work with other people is more important to the ability to lead other people.
Nowadays, because of fierce competition, many people pursue more favorable jobs and pay attention to the fact——how to succeed in a new job. Some people think the ability to adapt oneself to the new environment is of significant importance, while others insist that the profound knowledge of this job is more important. As far as I am concerned, the ability of grasp the job accounts more in the success of the new job.
First of all, the good grasp of the knowledge in a new job is the key to get into a new company. When choosing new employees, the managers will definitely value people who have perfect understanding of job and have practice skills. Therefore, if the knowledge base is worse, the candidates may be washed out in the interview. More importantly, in some fields, the excellent knowledge will bring company more profits. For example, in financial company, the better understanding of math, investment can help employer do well in making profits for company. As a result, they have more possibilities to be accepted and promoted.
Moreover, the excellent knowledge will consequently lead to remarkable performance in the new environment. The colleagues admire the ability of the person. Once they have problems, they are more likely to communicate with the brilliant employee and discuss the way to solve the problems with him. Therefore, the person with good knowledge will integrate the new environment. On the contrary, if someone's ability does not meet the expectation of the partners and managers, he will lose the attention. So it is difficult for the people to get into the work atmosphere.
Admittedly, the ability to adapt oneself to the new environment is also important, only they accommodate the environment can they do well in their work. In the good condition, people can take advantage of their potentiality to cooperate with other people and finish projects. But If they don't have profound knowledge, they only talk with people but not help them succeed in a new job.
In conclusion, the excellent knowledge of new job is more important than the ability to adapt the new environment.
9. Some people believe that the Earth is being harmed by human activity. Others feel that human activity makes the earth a better place to live. What is your opinion? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
While the past few centuries have witnessed increasingly better quality of human life, human activity is doing more and more harm to the Earth. Natural resources are being depleted and pollution is being created as a result of development of technology. Natural areas are being damaged as a result of urban expansion to populate more people.
First, we do harm to the Earth by using more and more natural resources. If we dell too many trees at one time to build houses and make paper, or if we cut down trees before they grow to maturity, they can hardly grow back in time. As worrisome as overcutting of trees is overfishing. With improved technology and greater drive of money, fish of all kinds are being over hunted, reducing the biomass of some fish to the verge of extinction. Whaling seems a most irksome issue. While most countries argue against it, some countries go whaling to extreme. We often take it for granted that we have unlimited natural resources and use them in a wasteful manner, bringing about great losses.
Second, we damage the Earth by producing pollution in all forms. Factories pollute water and the air. Vehicles pollute the air. Nuclear-related and electronic products are playing an increasing big role in polluting the air, especially when we dispose the related waste carelessly. We take it for granted that the nature can help clean everything, but it can’t do it.
Third, expanding towns and cities are taking up more and more land. As populations flood to cities, new houses and stores have to be built to accommodate with their needs. Land that was good for farming has now become factories and apartment buildings. We seem to take it for granted that we have unlimited lands.
In summary, human activity seems to be going at the expense of the earth in various ways. However, our survival depends on the Earth, including natural areas and natural resources, so we have to venerate the earth.
10. Does technology make children less creative than in the past?
Are our kids becoming lazier and less creative, less imaginable than before as a consequence of highly advanced technology? My answer is no, and just the opposite, technology had apparently assisted our kids to become more creative.
First and foremost, technology has provided children with easy access to scientific and liberal art resources, which is their best source of inspiration. For example, children could now easily gain access to academic databases through iPad screen, read classical works on Kindle, or watch historic documents on Internet. These great works are essentially helpful to arouse their curiosity and prepares them with key knowledge necessary for any creation.
However, these wonderful equipment and facilities are never as handy in the pat, when kids could only reach limited resources in public libraries or schools. In this sense, technology has provided the possibility for children to be more creative.
Second, technology has equipped children with professional apparatus that could finally realize their imagination. This takes form particularly as computer software and applications, such as Photoshop for creative graphic design, overture for easily composing a piece of music, 3DMax for building up a virtual world, etc. All the software were never as handy as they are at present, and this would absolutely provides our children an effective tool for realizing their creativity.
Third, technology itself is a market place where creative ideas are economically encouraged. Steve Jobs earned millions of dollars a year for his excellent creation, and Mark Zuckberg gained his reputation for the genius social network. Therefore, technology has provided children the internal motive to develop their creativity.
However, it is undeniable that technology might make children become lazier and be comfortable with what is already available because everything are so convenient nowadays and there seems to be no way to improve them. Children lost in PC games or blindly pursuing every single piece of tech apparatus is a relevant example. Thus, it is always necessary to keep children’s mind active in the marvelous world of technology.
In a nutshell, I still regard children as becoming increasingly creative in technology development, although it might bring minor side effect. As along as we keep a balanced mood on children enjoying the fruit of technology, they are sure to contribute more to innovation than in the past.