| 以下由水木清华网友riki录入整理 14 Topic: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some people believe that university students should be required to attend classes. Others belive that going to classes should be optional for students. Which point of view do you agree with? Use specific reasons and details to explain your answer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some people may believe that going to classes should be optional, but I disagree. I don't understand how university students can expect to learn anything if they don't attend classes. Personal experience can help people learn about themselves and the world outside the classroom, but when it comes to learning about academic subjects, students need to be in class. In class they receive the benefit of the teacher's knowledge. The best teachers do more than just go over the material in the class textbook. They drawtheir students in to discussion of the material. They present opposing points of view. They schedule guest speakers to come, give the students additional information, or show documentary films on the subject. Also, attending classes on any subject teaches more than just facts. It teaches students how to learn, how to absorb information and then apply what they've learned to other situations. Their teacher is the best one to help them with these skills. They can't learn them just by reading the textbook. Going to class also teaches students how to work with the other members of the class. Many times students will be given group assignments. This is different from what they did in secondary school. Here they're with people from different backgrounds and experiences. In this situation, they learn how to handle working with people different from themselves to achieve a common goal. Going to class also teaches students responsibility and discipline. Having to be at a particular place at a particular time prepares them for getting ajob. Being at that place on time with an assignment completed prepares them for a career. In short, by going to class students learn more than just information from the teacher. They also learn how to learn, how to work with others, and how to work responsibly. These are not optional skills in life, so attending classes should not be optional 15 Topic: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neighbors are the people who live near us. In your opinion, what are the qualities of a good neighbor? Use specific details and examples in your answer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you have a god neighbor, you are a lucky person. You have someone who cares about your needs and your property, who is helpful in the little day-to-day situations that come up, and who is supportive in times of crisis. A good neighbor is someone who, for instance, understands that your children may occasionally run across his lawn, even though you tell them not to. He'll realize that children can be careless about things like that, and he won't make a big fuss about it unless it becomes a regular thing. In the same vein, he knows that you'll understand if some of the trash from his trash cans blows across into your yard. In other words, he is sensitive to the unintentional things that can happen. He doesn't make a big deal about them. A good neighbor is also respectful of your property. For example, she asks your permission before doing anything that interferes what's yours. This means she wouldn't plant a huge tree in between your houses asking how you feltabout it. If she wanted to put up a fence, she would let you know first. She might work with you to decide where it should be placed. Maybe the two of you would even split the cost. A good neighbor would lend you some milk if you ran out. She'd give you a ride to work if your car was broken, and let your children stay at her house in the evening if you got stuck working overtime. You would do the same for her. Both of you would help make the other's life easier. When something really awful happens to you, like a death in the family, a good neighbor will volunteer to help in any way he can. This could mean something small, like making some casseroles to put in your freezer to feed visiting relatives. Or it could mean something big, like helping you get through the sadness of the funeral. I think only someone who has experienced a bad neighbor can really appreciate a good one! A good neighbor can be a good friend. He or she can make all the difference in the world to your life. 21 Topic: -------------------------------------------------------------------- In general, people are living longer now. Discuss the causes of this phenomenon. Use specific reasons and details to develop your essay. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Essay: Today people are living to be much older than ever before. Some of the main reasons for this are the improve health care and better nutrition available to everyone. Medical care is more available to people. Although not everyone can get the best health care, everyone can get health care and advice. When people are seriously ill, they can go to a public hospital and be taken care of. Years ago, health care wasn't available to everyone. Some people didn't live near a doctor or a hospital, and others couldn't pay for the care they needed. They made do with herbal medicines or folk remedies. Of course, some of these worked, but not for the more serious diseases. The quality of medical care has improved. That's also a factor in longevity. Doctors know more now about what causes disease and how to cure it. Years ago, doctors only knew about the most basic diseases and cures. Medicine wasnot very advanced. You could die from die from something as simple as an infection from a cut. Now we have antibiotics and other medicines to help cureinfections. People are also living longer now because of better nutrition. We're eating better and ore healthfully than we used to. That's reduced the number of people with heart disease and cancer. We try to eat low-fat foods and eat morevegetables and fruits, which are now available year-round. Improved medical care and healthy eating habits has greatly expanded our life spans. What we need to do now is make sure that everyone in the world has these benefits. 22 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- We all work or will work in our jobs with many different kinds of people. In your opinion, what are some important characteristics of a co-worker (someone you work closely with)? Use reasons and specific examples to explain why these characteristics are important. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- We spend more time with our co-workers during a week than we do with our family. Thus, it's important for our co-workers to be people we can get along with. I've worked in a lot of offices, and I've found there are certain characteristics that all good co-workers have in common. A good co-worker is very cooperative. She does her best to get along with other. She tries to keep her end of things flowing smoothly to help others inthe office. She realizes that if one person doesn't get her work done, it can hold up everyone else. She has a positive attitude that creates a pleasant working environment. A good co-worker is adaptable. She is not stubborn about changes in schedules or routines, and doesn't object to having her job description revised. That can make life miserable for everyone around her. A good co-worker is willing to change her schedule to accommodate another worker's emergency. She has no problem with new procedures and welcomes changes when they come. A good co-worker is helpful. She pitches in when someone falls behind in his or her work.She's willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. She doessn't keeptrack of how often she has to finish another's work or take on extra work. Some co-workers do their own job period. They have no sense of office community. They only want to do their work, get paid and go home. A good co-worker is a sympathetic listener, and never uses what she learns a gainst people. She doesn't gossip. A bad co-worker uses negative rumors to take advantage of others. Being a good co-worker isn't too hard, but some people just can't seem to manage it. Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if everyone could? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23 Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Sometimes it is better not to tell the truth. Use specific reasons and details to support your answer. I agree that sometimes it is better not to tell the truth. In some cases the truth is going to hurt someone and no good will be gained by it. If so, then I don't think that person should be told the truth. There are times when a person needs to know the truth in order to make an important decision. There are also times when telling the truth is the only way to help someone who's being self-destructive. However, often telling the truth only benefits the teller, not the person being told. If someone has said something nasty about a person, those words don't' need to be repeated. However, what if a person has told a shameful secret to a friend, and that friend has told the secret to others? Then that person needsto know that she can't trust her friend. Otherwise, she might tell that friend other secrets. What if someone is doing something self-destructive, like partying all night in college instead of studying? Then he needs to be told that this behavior is upsetting his friends, who are worried about him. However, if he skips class and the teacher asks his friends why he isn't there, it's not necessary for the friend to tell the truth. He doesn't have to lie, but he also doesn't have to give information about his friend's behavior. Sometimes people need to know the truth before they can make an important decision. Suppose you're selling your house and you know there's water in thebasement. Then you should tell the truth about that to anyone interested inbuying your house. If you don't, you could be in trouble legally as well asethically! However, you don't need to tell the truth about the cranky neighbor who lives next door. The neighbor may not be as cranky with someone elseas he was with you. Sometimes it's better not to tell. 24 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In some countries, teenagers have jobs while they are still students. Do you think this is a good idea? Support your opinion by using specific reasons and details. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't think it is a good idea for teenagers to have jobs while they are still students. It can interfere with their studies, it can disrupt their home life, and it takes away part of their childhood that they can never replace. Education today is very complex and difficult. In order to learn and get good grades, a student must work very hard and concentrate. This means attending classes from early in the morning until late afternoon, then doing research for projects, then going home and doing homework. It's a busy schedule for anyone. For someone trying to hold down a job, it's even harder. Students need all their energy for their studies. If they're working after class at night, they're going to be tired the next day. They won't be able to concentrate. This will have a negative impact on their learning, and eventually on their grades. Having a job can also disrupt a teenager's home life. Families spend less and less time together. If a teenager has a job to go to after school, he won't be home for dinner. He won't be home after dinner, either, and may not get home until late at night. This means he doesn't have a lot of time to spend with his family. If he doesn't have a car, it can mean changes in his parents' schedules, too. They have to drive him to work and pick him up. The main drawback of a teenager having a job while he's still a student is that he's missing out on the fun of being young. He has a whole lifetime in which he'll have to earn a living. This is the last free time he'll have. It's the last chance he'll have to hang out with friends and just enjoy himself. Soon enough he'll have to worry about paying the rent and buying food. Jobs bring money, but money isn't everything. A teenager with a job gives up too much. No one should spend all his time at work, and especially not a teenager.
25 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A person you know is planning to move to your town or city. What do you think this person would like and dislike about living in your town or city? Why? Use specific reasons and details to develop your essay. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A friend of mine from college is moving to my city, so I have been thinking about what she would and wouldn't like about it. I'd say the quality of life here, as far as fun and activities are concerned, is very good. The quality of life isn't very good, though, in other important ways. Living in a large city is exciting, but you pay a price for it. There are lots of interesting things to do, and good restaurants with food from around the world. There are museums, art galleries, and lots of movie theatres. However, the crime rate is high, and people have to be careful about where theygo at night. There's a lot of traffic most of the time, and finding a parking space can be a problem. There are also a lot of people living here. Sometimes it feels too crowded. In a big city like mine, housing is very expensive. It costs a lot even if you're just renting an efficiency apartment. The good side is that there's alot of choice about where you want to live and how you want to live. You can find apartments of all sizes in different settings. Houses of equal variety are available for sale or rent. If my friend likes the great outdoors, she might be disappointed. Unfortunately, my city doesn't have a lot of wide open green spaces, and there aren't a lot of trees on the streets. We're not near the ocean, and the mountains are a day's drive from here. Still, we do hve some natural areas. For example, we have a beautiful big park. It even has a lake in the middle that is used for ice skating in the winter. There's a different kind of beauty in the city. Thinking about it, I suppose whether my friend likes my city will depend onwhether or not she likes exciting places. I hope she likes a lot of varietyas far as housing and activities are concerned. If she does, then this is the place for her. 26 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- It has recently announced that a large shopping center may be built in your neighborhood. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- There would be both advantages and disadvantages to having a shopping center built in my neighborhood. One advantage would be the convenience. I would like to have all those stores close by. Shopping would be much easier and faster because I wouldn't have to drive great distances to get to the stores. A shopping center would mean more choices, because there would be more stores selling different products. I might have a movie theater nearby, because so many shopping centers these days include movie theatres in their plans. Most shopping centers also have restaurants and a food court. That means a greater variety of places to eat in our area. Having a shopping center built in the neighborhood would also mean more jobs for the community. Initially, these jobs would be in the building of the center. Later the jobs would be in the stores, theatres, and food establishments. Of course, there would be some disadvantages, too. Probably the biggest problem would be traffic. A lot of people would be coming to the shopping center. They'd drive through our neighborhood to get to the center. They'd drive through our neighborhood to get to the center. In addition, if there wasn't enough parking at the center, they might look for parking spaces near our homes. A shopping center might also invite more crime into our neighborhood. Parking lots after dark are a big temptation to robbers. They know people are there with money to spend. The shopping center might also become a place where unruly teenagers would gather. This could cause trouble. Our town would needa community center for them to go instead. On the whole, though, I think my neighborhood should support having a shopping center built here. It would bring more variety to our shopping, give us the opportunity to amuse ourselves at movie theaters and restaurants, and bring more jobs into the area. 27 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- It has recently been announced that a new movie theater may be built in your neighborhood. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some people will say that a new movie theater in our neighborhood would be a bad thing. However, I fully support the plan to build one. I feel that a movie theater would bring more opportunities for recreation, reduce teenage delinquency, and lead to several improvements in the town. As it stands, there is little to do in my town. There are no parks here, and there is certainly no nightlife. Additionally, the nearest movie theater is more than thirty minutes away. That is inconvenient for everyone here. Many movies end late at night. Who wants a long drive home at 11:30 pm or midnight? Building a new movie theater here will reduce juvenile delinquency. Like everyone else, teens here are bored. They need activities to keep them busy and out of trouble. The jobs that the theatre will provide will help teens, too. We need more businesses that are willing and eager to employ young people. Overall, the new theater will bring many improvements to the town. For example, it will help other businesses. That is because the movie theater will attract customers from neighboring towns. Those neighbors do not have a reason to come to this town now. However, if they are coming here for a movie, they will be more likely to stay here to shop. If we get more visitors, we'll need better roads. While this may be costly, it will also make travel easierfor people living here. We will be able to get around faster. Safety will be improved with the new roads, because they will be in better condition than many that we have now. I believe that our town needs a new movie theater. Again, I support it fully. I hope that others in our community will join me to convince residents and local government. 28 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? People should sometimes do things that they do not enjoy doing. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I agree that people should sometimes do things that they don't enjoy doing. This is a basic part of being an adult. Plus, some things that aren't "fun" are still good for us in the long run. Take personal tasks. Who enjoys going to be dentist? Very few people enjoy having their annual check-up with the doctor. Not a lot of people enjoy changing the oil in their car or mowing their lawns. These are all things we do because we have to, not because we want to. We realize that if we don't change the oil in our cars, our cars won't run. We understand that grass grows and if we don't mow it, our lawns will look like tropical forests. Professional tasks are another part of the same equation. No one likes to be stuck with a boring assignment or to be told we have to work with someone no one else gets along with. Sometimes we have to put up with unfair criticism from a supervisor or resentment from those we supervise. If we're in management, we may have had the unpleasant task of having to fire someone. None of those are fun things. Unfortunately, they're all part of earning a living, something the majority of adults have to do. On the other hand, sometimes doing something we don't enjoy doing can lead to enjoyment. Simply by trying it again, we may decide we like doing it. Forinstance, we may have convinced ourselves we hate to dance. We agree to go to a club only to please someone else. Yet, for some reason, this time we enjoy dancing. We've been cheating ourselves of enjoyment without ever knowingit. The same can be true of trying new foods or going to a new type of museum. Doing what we don't enjoy doesn't always have to be a bother, does it? It's jus part of life. |