今天为
1. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: People should not spend a lot of time in communicating by technologies, such as through social media or with text messages?
With the development of modern technologies, people today are enjoying communicating through social media and with text messages, which is convenient compared to scheduling face-to-face meetings. However, some people argue that people should not spend too much time in communicating by technological devices. I totally agree with this viewpoint for the following reasons.
To begin with, communicating through social media reduces the time that people meet in real life. Convenient it might seem, in fact, this type of communications could isolate people from each other. To illustrate, while chatting through social media, we usually choose to type and send text messages, which lacks tones, intonations, and facial expressions to show our feelings. Even if we could use emoji, the emoji still fails to express our true feelings because those symbols and pictures are identical in everyone’s computer screens or cellphones. Gradually, people will not consider seriously the feelings conveyed by texts and emoji and thus the communications become less effective. For example, some people only “like” others’ pictures and sharing on Facebook without any comments. It is inevitable that people feel more and more isolated from each other by simply “liking” each other’s postings online without meeting in person.
Moreover, always sticking to our cellphones or sitting in front of computers is harmful to our physical health. For instance, many people have found themselves suffering from muscle pains because of a sedentary lifestyle. On the contrary, if people meet in person, they might hang out and take a walk while taking to each other. Though different from doing exercises in gyms, this meeting at least enables people to relax and even sweat a little bit.
In addition, during spare time, people could choose to schedule a short trip, do some exercises, or simply read some books that they are interested in. The above types of activities are beneficial for our physical health, and could help broaden our horizons. In order not to become addicted to social media, it is necessary for us to limit the time that we spend on our cell phones as well as the Internet.
Based on the above discussion, people should not spend a lot of time on communication by technologies, such as through social media or with text messages. On the contrary, we could meet in person, which could help us maintain social relationships with others. Besides, we should make use of our leisure time to do some beneficial activities instead of staring at the screen of our cellphones or computers all the time.
2. More and more people are migrating to cities in search of a better life, but city life can be extremely difficult. Explain some of the difficulties of living in a city. How can governments make urban life better for everyone?
Nowadays, quite a lot of people surging into the city are dreaming of a better life, especially the young. It is no doubt that the massive abstraction from city has had the tremendous influence on the option of people who are likely to migrate. It is easier to obtain jobs and other resources in the city than in the village. And it is also more convenient in the transportation, the entertainment and others aspects. Going to the cinema or having a dinner with family members seems like a daily thing people can manage. However, to some extent, people migrating from the village to the city may find it a big problem for them.
So, should living in the city be regarded as the heaven without any annoying issue? Actually, it is not true. Each coin has two sides, as the old saying goes. Firstly, people have to compete strongly for obtaining the resource to support their city lives, because the living resource is rarely enough for the increasing demanding. Secondly, people shall suffer from the noise from the vehicle, the market and the crowded neighbors. Likewise, traffic incidents and unexpected criminal cases happen more frequently than in the village. In addition, the large pressure from raising the family and the work in the city leads to a lot disease both in the physical and the mental. Having an access to the clean water and the fresh air is also difficult. In the end, people chasing for a better life have to pay the high price as well.
Thus, the government should play an important role in the management of making the urban life better for everyone. In my view, firstly, the government should give more specific living introductions, provide more living resources and set up more useful training classes to guide people to improve their abilities to look for better jobs. Secondly, the government should offer more job opportunities for the demanding people. Meanwhile, the clean water and the fresh air must be carried out well through big projects, ensuring people can live in a healthy life. The last but not the least, the government should take care of all the disabled people and help them live a better life. To sum up, providing more living resources, helping people to improve the working ability, sharing the public benefit to all people and ensuring the clean living environment are the essential for the management of government.
3. Which way do you think is the best way for a student to make new friends?
-joining a sports team;
-participating in community activities;
-traveling
Friendship is one of the greatest things in life. Good friends bring a special meaning to us. That’s why people constantly look forward to making new friends. Different people find their friends from different activities and situations such as traveling, taking part in community activities. For me, the best way cultivate friendship is joining a sport team. My writing will thoroughly look into some typical reasons for this.
First and foremost, what I put as my priority is same interest. The fact is that people joining a sport team always have something they are both passionate about. They do not need to worry about lack of topics to talk. The games they are involved will bring endless discussions. For instance, my younger brother is an introvert. When he was in high school, he did not become friends with anyone. He often kept quiet and felt difficult to communicate with people. However, when he entered university, he joined the football club. One day, I was so surprised he brought home a group of friends in his club. They were very active and kept talking about the last football match they saw in television. My brother was so passionate when he talked about football, the famous soccer he admires, which team would get the champion. Without doubt, sports are likely to make people close together and shorten all the distance between them.
In the second place, time that members in a team spend with each other is undoubtedly of paramount importance. It cannot be denied that there are many activities in a sport team that members do together. These activities can be practicing, taking part in competitions, shopping to buy sport facilities, cleaning courts… For example, last semester, I joined a badminton club in my university to prepare for the university badminton tournament. I had a lot of activities with the members in our club. We practiced two hours every day for a month before the competition. After practicing hours, we went to the cafeteria in campus to have drinks and chat with each other. It was fun. I had many good memories with people in this club. With no doubt, by joining a sport team or club, people stand a golden chance to have great time with friends.
Last but not least, trust holds no less an important role. Obviously, trust is essential to any friendship. It is even more important between teammates in a sport team. In a sport team, people are encouraged to trust each other. Players need to help their teammates and let their teammates help them. A person should always be sure that he or she always has friends after his or her back. Beyond any doubt, a sport boosts trust between friends and encourages them to become wonderful friends.
All in all, same interest, good time and trust are convincing reasons I hold the strong belief in advantage of taking part in a sport team to make friends. I strongly recommend everyone to have an appropriate decision when choosing an activity to join to meet new friends.
4. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Drivers should pay a certain amount of fee to be permitted to drive out in traffic in peak traffic hours.
According to a recent statistic on the Internet, the number of cars in traffic busy time is so large and undoubtedly has the tendency of increasing. In order to solve this, some people insist on making drivers pay a certain amount of fees so that they can be permitted to drive out in traffic busy time. However, others believe that there is hardly any necessity to charge. From my perspective, I completely agree with the former idea.
The first reason I want to put forward is that charging money can definitely make the transportation flexible and convenience. For example, if the drivers should pay a certain amount of fees for being permitted to drive out in traffic busy time, there will be fewer cars in this period and the transportation could be convenient. What is more, the more convenient the traffic is, the more time people could save. People could have more time to do other things rather than waiting for the traffic. Therefore, it is necessary to make drivers pay a certain amount of fees considering the convenience of the traffic.
The second reason I want to put forward is that cars contributed to the aggravating environmental conflicts and influence the individual’s life. A nationwide investigation conducted by experts demonstrates that car exhaust contains compounds like carbon monoxide dioxide that threatens the public health as well as the environment. The lost of lives and property will be countless and that is really a tremendous disaster. Thus, in order to avoid this phenomenon, we could make the drivers pay fees to limit the number of cars in the traffic rush hours.
Although I admit that there may be a couple of disadvantages to charging drivers, I feel that the advantages are more obvious. It could contribute to the transportation and the environment. Besides, the additional fees charged could be used to improve the fundamental facilities. For example, more complicated and scientific road system could be designed and established to allow cars pass through more quickly. It will benefit people in the long run.
In conclusion, charging people a certain amount of fee to drive out in traffic peak hours could help to ease traffic pressure and lead to less exhaust. Its benefits outweigh its disadvantages.
5. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Students do not respect teachers as much as they did in the past.
In recent history, one of the greatest advances of society has been the development of universal education. While education has become more important to society, I do not believe the social status of a teacher has advanced as much. I do not believe that people today respect teachers as much as they did in the past.
Many years before, scholars were basically celebrities and they were duly given credit for their contribution to society. Scholars from ancient times like Socrates and Confucius were not only famous for their theories and works, but they also established a permanent place in history by sharing and passing on their ideas to their students. In history, men of knowledge held a special place in society and were honored by their students. Yes today there are still many leading scholars, but how many of these teachers are household names? I don’t even think I can name the most recent Nobel Prize laureates.
To examine the level of respect given to many teachers in the past, we must broaden the definition of what qualifies as a teacher. Previously many occupations in society were based on a strict guild system where people learned their occupation through a strict training system. First you began as an apprentice and then you would become a journeyman. After years of work perfecting your skill you would become a master. The master served as a teacher to the other apprentices and journeymen. A particular degree of respect was paid to the masters of each trade. Nowadays machines have replaced skilled laborers and the role of master teachers is obsolete. To some extent technology has degraded the necessity and therefore the value of a teacher in society.
In today’s society there is also an overarching stigma that degrades the general status of the teaching profession. Many people in society believe that those who cannot be successful in any other profession become teachers. If you love playing the piano but are not accomplished enough to become a concert pianist, then you become a piano teacher. Teaching is also seen as a mediocre career, because the average salary of a teacher is much lower than many other professions. This is not to say that there are not many intelligent and successful teachers. I know many teachers who gave up a better career because they found teaching to be much more rewarding of a career. However, this does not change the opinion of society as a whole towards the teaching profession.
When compared to the elite status many teachers held in history, there is no doubt that teachers today are not as respected as teachers in the past. In today’s society, being a teacher is not considered the most successful or respected career.
6. Do you agree or disagree with the statement: Governments have done enough to educate the people the importance of a balanced lifestyle and healthy eating?
A balanced lifestyle and healthy eating are essential things for a government to develop and advance that they are so deeply relevant for a great nation to be. In my country, I think my government is not doing enough to educate its citizens to keep a balanced lifestyle and to eat healthily.
Firstly, the government emphasizes more on the development of economy than a sound lifestyle. To be more concise, it always makes attempts to boost the growth of economy trying to prove that my country is a great one and people living on this land are happy and content. However, economy progression is not a sound indicator to this regard due to the fact that people are expected to work harder and to sacrifice their spare time in order to fulfill the anticipation of the company and the government. A balanced life means people do not just work for their career or jobs, but also for their pleasures, for their hobbies and for their family. In the society, conversely, people are educated to use all their time to work diligently at the expense of anything in their life. A so unbalanced lifestyle it is that people are under pressure, such as construction workers needing to finish building projects as fast as possible so that they can earn more money; students trying to ace the test so that they can earn more time for their tests by sacrificing the time of exercising and spending time with their friends and family. Hardly do they take a rest to lead a balanced life because they are not educated to do so for a better living.
Secondly, the government tends to ignore the fast development of unhealthy chain store. The food industry has a tremendous influence on the issue of healthy eating. However, it is so powerful that this great empire spends millions of dollars on advertisement, medium, movies or even on schools, for they are sponsors of certain school activities. So, most of the people are not educated well enough to eat a diet that is beneficial and wholesome to their physical condition. What they are “educated” instead is to eat in a fancy place and get their meals as fast as possible as in chain fast-food restaurants. As we all know that fruits, vegetables and water are essential elements for a healthy eating habit, yet the government seldom educates us to consume those things in our daily life; instead, unhealthy chain stores are taking the hand of the government in educating us what seems right to eat due to the ignorance of the rampant development of ill-nourished food industry.
Admittedly, some people may still think our government has done its role of educating citizens to eat healthy and keep a balanced life. For instance, in the school, students are taught what nutrients are vital to our physical condition and some of the governmental organizations, taking Healthy and Sanitary Department for example. It is holding some activities to teach citizens what to eat to keep in a good shape and live healthily. However, to me, this is not enough. Greasy food and sugary beverages are still sold in the school due to its high profits. Salty food, high carbohydrate diets and fried products are not a rare sight when people go to supermarkets or when they turn on the TV or read the magazines.
In conclusion, even though my government is trying its best to educate people to eat right in some fields, this is not sufficient and not effectual. The government is still trying to focus more on the development of economy and people are still bombarded with the advertisements of the food industry, so people eat by the “trend,” rather than by the “nutrition facts” from food. Hence, I think my government is not educating their people enough concerning a balanced life and a healthy eating concept.
7. Nowadays celebrities are more famous for their glamour and wealth than for their achievements, and this sets a bad example to young people.
It is true that some celebrities are known for their glamorous lifestyles rather than for the work they do. While I agree that these celebrities set a bad example for children, I believe that other famous people act as positive role models.
On the one hand, many people do achieve fame without really working for it. They may have inherited money from parents, married a famous or wealthy person, or they may have appeared in gossip magazines or on a reality TV program. A good example would be Paris Hilton, who is rich and famous for the wrong reasons. She spends her time attending parties and nightclubs, and her behavior promotes the idea that appearance, glamour and media profile are more import than hard work and good character. The message to young people is that success can be achieved easily, and that school work is not necessary.
On the other hand, there are at least as many celebrities whose accomplishments make them excellent role models for young people. Actors, musicians and sports stars become famous idols because they have worked hard and applied themselves to develop real skills and abilities. They demonstrate great effort, determination and ambition, which is required for someone who wants to be truly successful in their chosen field. An example is the actor and martial artist Jackie Chan, who has become world famous through years of practice and hard work. This kind of self-made celebrity can inspire children to develop their talents through application and perseverance.
In conclusion, it seems to me that the influence of celebrities on young people can be positive as well as negative.
8. Some people think that instead of preventing climate change, we need to find a way to live with it. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Climate change represents a major threat to life on Earth, but some people argue that we need to accept it rather than try to stop it. I completely disagree with this opinion, because I believe that we still have time to tackle this issue and reduce the human impact on the Earth’s climate.
There are various measures that governments and individuals could take to prevent, or at least mitigate, climate change. Governments could introduce laws to limit the carbon dioxide emissions that lead to global warming. They could impose “green taxes” on drivers, airline companies and other polluters, and they could invest in renewable energy production from solar, wind or water power. As individual, we should also try to limit our contribution to climate change, by becoming more energy efficient, by flying less, and by using bicycles and public transport. Furthermore, the public can affect the actions of governments by voting for politicians who propose to tackle climate change, rather than for those who would prefer to ignore it.
If instead of taking the above measures we simply try to live with climate change, I believe that the consequences will be disastrous. To give just one example, I am not optimistic that we would be able to cope with even a small rise in sea levels. Millions of people would be displaced by flooding, particularly in countries that do not have the means to safeguard low-lying areas. These people would lose their homes and their jobs, and they would be forced to migrate to nearby cities or perhaps to other countries. The potential for human suffering would be huge, and it is likely that we would see outbreaks of disease and famine, as well as increased homelessness and poverty.
In conclusion, it is clear to me that we must address the problem of climate change, and I disagree with those who argue that we can find ways to live with it.
9. Nowadays the way many people interact with each other has changed because of technology. In what ways has technology affected the types of relationships that people make? Has this been a positive or negative development?
It is true that new technologies have had an influence on communication between people. Technology has affected relationships in various ways, and there are both positive and negative effects.
Technology has had an impact on relationships in business, education and social life. Firstly, telephones and the Internet allow business people in different countries to interact without ever meeting each other. Secondly, services like Skype create new possibilities for relationships between students and teachers. For example, a student can now take video lessons with a teacher in a different city or country. Finally, many people use social networks, like Facebook, to make new friends and find people who share common interests, and they interact through their computers rather than face to face.
On the one hand these developments can be extremely positive. Cooperation between people in different countries was much more difficult when communication was limited to written letters or telegrams. Nowadays, interactions by email, phone or video are almost as good as face-to-face meetings, and many of us benefit from these interactions, either in work or social contexts. On the other hand, the availability of new communication technologies can also have the result of isolating people and discouraging real interaction. For example, many young people choose to make friends online rather than mixing with their peers in the real world, and these 'virtual' relationships are a poor substitute for real friendships.
In conclusion, technology has certainly revolution communication between people, but not all of the outcomes of this revolution have been positive.
10. 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 sentimentalities, 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.
11. 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.
12. 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, peopled 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 good 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 expense 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.
13. Do you agree that telephones are playing a more effective role than television in people’s life.
Some people argue as if it is a general truth that telephone has greater influence on people’s lives than television. But to be frank, I can’t agree with this statement. There are numerous reasons why I hold no confidence on it, and I would only explore only a few primary ones here.
Before my demonstration, I have to admit that both telephone and television are the greatest inventions during human history, the reason is that both of them improve our lives and broader our view. However, what makes them different for us is their function. Telephone is a method we connect with each other, while television makes us to communicate with the whole world. As we compare the whole world with any individual, we can make our conclusion about which changes our lives obvious without any doubt. However, I still want to mention some further explanation.
For one thing, if we compare the outside world to a huge school for us, television must be the best tutor for our learning process. For instance, it shows us documentary of Yellow Stone National Park and Amazon to incentive our interested in geology. At the same time, it helps us to look back to the Revolution War and Civil War. These historic moments make us a real part of our history.
For another, besides being a telescope for the outside would, television is also a microscope for our inside world. It uses a vivid method to show us the humanism, and make us to think about ourselves at the same time. Every day we watch TV for news and plays. The characters of them and the way these persons treat the staffs and affairs around them, making us to ask ourselves. Am I just like the miser in the movie? How would I deal with my dishonest friend? And could I be a brave man like the hero I admire? All of these questions can enhance our understanding of humanism and make us to be better.
Even though telephone makes a small world for us, it can’t compare the whole university television shows to us.
Taking into account of all these reasons, we can reach the conclusion that television plays a more important part in human’s lives than telephone. If we didn’t have the telephone, we lost some of our friends far away. However, losing the television, we would be lost in the complicate world.
14. 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 has 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.
15. 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 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.
16. 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 difficulties 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.
17. Some people think that all university students should study whatever they like. Others believe that they should only be allowed to study subjects that will be useful in the future, such as those related to science and technology.
People have different views about how much choice students should have with regard to what they can study at university. While some argue that it would be better for students to be forced into certain key subject areas, I believe that everyone should be able to study the course of their choice.
There are various reasons why people believe that universities should only offer subjects that will be useful in the future. They may assert that university courses like medicine, engineering and information technology are more likely to be beneficial than certain art degrees. From a personal perspective, it can be argued that these courses provide more job opportunities, career progression, better salaries, and therefore an improved quality of life for students who take them. On the societal level, by forcing people to choose specific university subjects, governments can ensure that any knowledge and skill gaps in the economy are covered. Finally, a focus on technology in higher education could lead to new inventions, economic growth, and greater future prosperity.
Although these arguments, I believe that university students should be free to choose their preferred areas of study. In my opinion, society will benefit more if our students are passionate about what they are learning. Besides, nobody can really predict which areas of knowledge will be most useful to society in the future, and it may be that employers begin to value creative thinking skills above practical or technical skills. If this were the case, perhaps we would need more students of art, history and philosophy than of science or technology.
In conclusion, although in might seem sensible for universities to focus only on the most useful subjects, I personally prefer the current system in which people have the right to study whatever they like.
18. 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 a 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 a high salary but less vacation time. Normally they can be divided into two types.
The first type of people is those who are still young and just start developing their career. At this time, they have little money that barely can support themselves and they are full of energy to work and have the desire to achieve something in their job. 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 a 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 a 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 a critical thinking is in great need when we are faced with question like this.
19. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? A leader should have strong opinion and should not change his or her mind.
Never does the topic merely referring to how to be a successful leader fail to arouse attention of public, with the rapid development of economics. But much disagreement exists among people as to the attitudes toward subordinates that leaders should hold. Some of them claim that leaders should carry on their own ideas without any disturbed by others. Others, however, are on the opposite. As to this issue, my favor goes to the latter that only a leader who is willing to accept others opinion scan be successful and my reasons will be listed as follows.
To begin with, leaders are not supposed to make any decisions alone by the risk of making mistakes. That is to say, there is no exception that every individual in this world is likely to introduce error unintentionally, no matter how intelligent or well-informed he is. Take Steve Jobs as an example, no one can deny how tremendous contributions he made to the whole technological industry. In 1998, however, Jobs ignored other directors’ suggestions and persisted in inventing the Newton portable computer, which was overpriced by customers’ imagination, and it was lack of ample support by suppliers. Due to this wrong decision without authorized by other partners, Apple paid a heavy price to regain the reputation among customers. Thus, a person, especially a leader in a company, he is supposed to treat every decision he made carefully which might have colossal impact on the whole company by listening to others’ perspectives rather than stick to his own opinions toughly.
Plus, the more opinions from other leaders adopt, the better ultimate decisions could be generated. More specifically, when we discuss the same issue with different people, we probably receive distinct feedbacks, enabling us to considering objects from different perspectives and being more comprehensive to consider problems. I would like to cite my best friend Nichole, who was a chairman in student’s Union in her college, as an example. She told me that, the first month after she handled the position as a chairman she almost made every decision by herself in an attempt to ensure everything in the Union is under her control. However, as time went by, she found that every coworker in her union has his own cutting-edge. When she discussed the problems with them, she was exposed to unique perspectives which considerably assisted her to have deeper understandings of the issue and made wiser decisions easily. As an old saying goes, great things may be done by mass effort. It is evident that a successful leader must be a person who is eager to take others’ advice into consideration.
Admittedly, making decisions alone without taking care of others’ opinions has its own undeniable advantages especially in some specific situations. Say in the leader has to make decision in a short time or the decision is too confidential to let others be aware of. Nevertheless, it is merely under these a few specific circumstances that the better way for leaders to decide by themselves completely. And under these circumstances the decision share more likely to turn out to be a disaster as a consequence.
To conclude, based on the offered arguments above, we may safely arrive at the conclusion that only a leader be prevented from making all decisions by himself without listening to others’ opinions is able to be a successful leader genuinely, since they are more probably to make wise choice and avoid making inferior decisions to some extent.
20. 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 the 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 a 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.
另外有一则好消息，针对托福备考，