Children learn best by observing the behavior of adults and copying it. What is your opinion on this topic? And why do you think like this? Detail your thoughts on this issue.
The process of growing up is very complex for children. Among countless factors that influence children’s growth, the behavior of adults plays a significant role in shaping children’s inclination and character. After the baby is born, the first and the nearest adults are his or her parents. The little baby has started to learn from their parents by observing and copying the adults’ talk. This learning environment is importan for the babies.
There is a special case reported by the press. A baby was abandoned when she was born. A sow fed her as a piglet. When she was about eight years old, some villagers found her, but her intelligence was just similar to the two-year old baby and all of her behaviors looked like those of a pig. From this case, we know child is a “mirror” which will reflect the behavior of the close adults.
Along with the children’s growth, adults will influence them much more, such as logical thinking, making decision, cooperation with others, etc. The behavior of adults can give children both good and bad influence. Most of the behaviors represent adults’ inclination. For instance, if media report chiefly on the dark side of the society, children will easily incline to violence and excessive sex. Therefore, they will be infected with bad mental state.
Behavior is a direct and convincing method to teach children. Things are easier to be said than to be done. Parents always tell their children those principles repeatedly, but most children can not accept it through this boring method. Adults’ behavior is the most effective education method. If you let them observe the whole process of how to deal with the problems, children will learn from you naturally.
Children are like young trees. They need to be carefully irrigated, fertilized and trimmed. Your behavior will be greatly helpful to shape them into useful talents.
2
Zoos are sometimes seen as necessary but poor alternative to a natural environment. Is it necessary to keep animals in zoos? What is your opinion?
In the modern society, zoos are almost indispensable palaces in large cities for people to visit. In some large zoos, there are various animals from space to sea, and from primitive invertebrates to advanced and intelligent mammals. In the zoos, all animals, including those rare animals, such as panda, Africa elephant, and North-East tiger, could enjoy good care and protection away from any hurt. However, along with the stronger natural environmental protection consciousness, many people think that to put animals into small cages will change their living instincts, and therefore interrupt the ecological balance.
Viewed from the basic relations between animals and human beings, animals should have the same equal freedom as human beings. They are also a form of life. Animals have their own living instinct, and it is this instinct that forms the biological chain of the Earth. This relation is called “Ecological Balance” academically. For example, insect—bird—snake. If most birds in a region are killed and locked into cages by human beings, the pests will eat out all crops, and snakes will lose a large part of food (bird)-resources, therefore leading to starvation and death.
This opinion sounds ideal theoretically. However in reality, human beings and other animals cannot stay together peacefully on the Earth. Because of human beings’ lust for fortune, many valuable animals are killed or sold, especially those endangered species. Therefore, zoos appear as an active way for people to protect those poor animals. In the first place, this is an action not only for animals but also for human being itself. Once the biological chain is broken, human beings will be punished inevitably. In the second place, zoos can serve a purpose of educating and entertaining people, narrowing the distance between human beings and animals. Last but not least important, zoos can be a scientific study center to rescue more endangered species and make animals better serve people’s need.
The key point of this topic is freedom or protection. In my opinion, those two aspects can be unified. It is necessary to keep animals in zoos for the purpose of protection, teaching and study. Let’s think it further—the purpose of all these actions is to make animals live happier. Therefore, to maintain the ecological balance is hence to protect our own living environment.
3
Nowadays, the sport stars are paid in such a high salary, which is much more than the whole life salary of a common family. Should athletes have a high salary like this?
Sample One
Should athletes have a high salary? From my point of view, I reckon that they should get a good pay.
To begin with, the development of athletic level represents the power of a country. Athletes make great contributions to the society and earn great glories to their country. When our national anthem is played in the stadium, we feel very proud of our country’s strength. Therefore, a high salary is a reward to the efforts athletes make.
What’s more, athletes devote themselves fully to the training and exercises. Every day, they do a lot of exercises with a view to setting new record in the sports games. Athletes are apt to be hurt in the matches, because some sports games are dangerous, for example, football, boxing and wushu. High pay guarantees prompt and good medical care if they get hurt.
Last but not least important, the athletic career is very short. Many athletes retire when they are still quite young. High salary can ensure that they can have a better life after they retire. If they want a further study, they will have no financial burdens.
To sum up, it is reasonable for athletes to get high salary, because they are worth of it.
Sample Two
Salaries should reflect people’s dedication and job responsibilities. However, sports figures, who don’t benefit the community in general, earn millions of dollars each. In my opinion, this is wrong. Things should be done to change this situation.
If we take the example of a sport star such as Tyson, it is hard for us to say in what way he benefits the society. In fact, his disobeying game rules sets a bad example for young people, and his abandoned behavior encourages people to experiment with sex and violence. Besides, his job does not require special skills or years of training and education. Although he can entertain and excite audience, I do not think that he is justified to receive so much money and his job can be considered essential.
On the other hand, most people in “ordinary” professions like nurses, doctors and teachers earn only a small fraction of the income of these “stars”. However, if we give a careful look at these professions, we will find that they not only require special skills and years of education but also help the people and the whole society. For instance, teachers disseminate knowledge to the society; doctors and nurses offer patients good medical care and prolong their life. They are much more helpful, and actually more essential to society than sports personalities. Without these “ordinary” professions, our society would stop progressing. Their salaries should be related to skill, education or the value of the inpidual to society.
Things should be done to make salaries fairer. Huge amounts of money shall be given to more deserving people.
4
Traditional arts civilized a nation. Do you think government should subsidize musicians, artists, actors or drama companies? What should a government do?
Traditional arts, as valuable cultural relics of a nation, are disappearing far away from the modern society. China, as one of the highly-civilized countries in the world, abound in various forms of traditional arts, such as painting, calligraphy, music, architecture and dramas, which are not only our national cultural treasures, but also a rich fortune of the world.
As essence of a local culture, traditional arts reflect a nation’s artistic talents and traditions. For example, watercolor painting depicts a harmony between people and nature. Architecture illustrates a nation’s aesthetic value and religious belief. Cathedrals, highlighted by Baroque style in the 17th century, represent Christianity. Pagodas, totally different from cathedrals stylistically, are a symbol of Buddhism. Peking Opera describes the history of our country.
However, traditional arts are leaving contemporary people further and further away. One of the main reasons for the fact is that the authorities concerned and some institutes lack funds and professionals, which are quite essential to the research and promotion of traditional culture. Another radical reason should be attributed to the impact of western cultures on traditions. Young people, especially youngsters, are addicted to western music like rock and roll, without any knowledge about traditional musical instruments. With the economic globalization, traditional culture and arts will be in the danger of assimilation. How to maintain and develop traditional arts becomes the biggest concern of a government.
To begin with, the government should establish a fund for the research and promotion of traditional arts. What’s more, the research institutes and universities should work out a long-term developing scheme, organizing systematic research on traditional arts. Arts belong to a nation and the whole world as well. The prosperity of traditional arts will persify the culture of the world.
5
Write an essay, considering and assessing arguments for and against the following view: As reading is important for a good education, we should encourage our children to read whatever appeals to them.
The famous English philosopher Francis Bacon said, “Reading makes a full man”. Reading books can strongly shape you inclination, mature your thoughts, widen you horizon and enrich your personality. Life is limited, but knowledge is boundless. The more books we read, the more knowledge we get. Hence, we should encourage our children to read more books.
However, books can also be harmful, particularly the pornographic books. Bad books contain evil thoughts. In them, there might be much description about violence, superstition, and sex. Let’s suppose that you are in the position of a parent. Would you allow your children to read whatever appeals to them? If your answer to the question is “yes”, you are either extremely permissive or just plainly irresponsible. If children read bad books, the evil thoughts would poison their mind gradually. They will be dispirited and perhaps commit a crime.
Good books, on the other hand, teach and help children to do good things. Good books are children’s real companions, and they are both instructive and inspiring. Children know past events from history books, study communication by language books; learn space and numbers through mathematics books. In a word, different kinds of good books can give them a large amount of ideas and knowledge.
Consequently, those who read good books can be inspired to grow healthily, while those who read bad ones will lead a wicked life and meet with miserable failure. So before we encourage our children to read books, we should teach and help them to identify good and bad books.
6
The rate of young women crimes is rising in the current society. What are the causes and how to solve it?
Juvenile delinquency is a very serious problem confronting us in modern society. At the same time, the rate of young women crimes spearheads very fast. Some sociologists and educationists show great concern about this problem. In this essay, I will find out the causes for this issue and explore some possible solutions.
First of all, the rapid development of society and the changes of people’s value of the world account mainly for the issue. In the old days, women were confined to housework and baby-sitting, which barricaded women’s steps. Now, with the eye-catching development of economy, many young women go out to find a job, which renders them more opportunities to contact the outside world. As a consequence, young women are apt to be influenced by the malfeasance in the society.
In addition, the rise of criminal rate can be attributed to the lack of education of women. The prosperity and luxury in some metropolises are very attractive to some young women. Some of them leave the countryside in the hope that they can make a good fortune in the cities, where they often find themselves disappointed for lack of good education or skills. Therefore, some of them fell despaired and embark on the criminal road.
The last factor is the over-description of violence on the media. TV is the most powerful medium, which transforms abundant information around the world. However, some programs are full of violence description, sexual alluring and bloody contents, which are easy to make young women astray.
In order solve the problem, people work out up various solutions. Form my point of view, I deem the following are worth mentioning. On the one hand, the government should pay more attention to the problem and issue relevant laws to crackdown young women crimes. Meanwhile, we should strengthen education and raise the quality of people, helping them set up a correct outlook of the world. Only when the government and the society join hands in solving the problem will the rate of young women crimes fall down.
7
The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the year 2005 there may be as many as 29 million vehicles on British roads.
Should alternative forms of transport be encouraged and international laws introduced to control car ownership and use?
There is general agreement that there are far too many automobiles crowding the roads nowadays. In fact, it is estimated that there will be as many as 29 million motor vehicles on British roads by the year 2005. Not only do these motor vehicles cause inconvenience in the form of traffic jams and accidents, they also contribute to the planet’s ever-worsening air pollution.
In my opinion we must encourage alternative forms of transport. If more people rode bicycles or traveled by public transport, they would be healthier and suffer less from stress, the roads would be less congested and safer, and the air in our cities would be cleaner. Subway systems, take passengers off the streets entirely. Private cars are banned in the downtown areas, where the only form of wheeled transport allowed is the bicycle.
However, it is necessary that these efforts to improve the traffic situation be backed up by international laws to control the ownership and use of cars. This is because, first of all, pollution caused by automobiles is a worldwide problem. What’s more, more people are traveling by car to other countries nowadays.
If measures are taken in a planned way to encourage alternative forms of transportation, and international laws put in place to control car ownership and use, there is no doubt that the result will be safer roads, a healthier lifestyle and a less-polluted atmosphere.
8
Human being does not need to eat meat in order to maintain good health because they can get all their food needs from meatless products and meatless substitute. Do you agree or disagree?
Meat provides human beings with a lot of nutrition needed for maintaining good health. People get protein, fat, heat and cholesterol etc. from meat to build themselves stronger than ever.
However, along with the development of meatless products and meatless substitute, people can also get their nutrition needs.
Vegetarians are the best example. They don’t eat meat, but only depend on vegetables, eggs and milk. They live a happy life, working every day, doing sports, going for disco and traveling for sightseeing, etc. Most of them are in such good health; they can even compete with athletes in sports games. Monks are another example. Due to their faithful religious belief, they are not allowed to eat any meat, yet they are in good shape. Moreover, the secret of longevity is to eat meat as little as possible, according to most of people over 100 years old. Theoretically, people will be in good health so long as they have enough protein and vitamin. People can easily get protein from milk and egg, while get vitamin from fruits and vegetables. Science and technology makes everything possible.
Based on the above, my conclusion is that people can live without meat, particularly along with the advancement of the science and technology, which can create more meatless substitutes. People can maintain good health, even if they do not eat any meat.
9
Many people think that countries have a moral obligation to help each other, so the international aid should be given to the poor countries in the world. Discus the view of international aid, and give your opinion.
With the process of economic globalization, many countries and regions have strengthened cooperation and liaison in the fields of industry, agriculture, trade and finance. In order to dedicate to the mutual development, many developed countries spare no effort to help the poor countries by means of technological, medical and financial aids, which, to my mind, are quite essential to the development of the world.
To begin with, aids from developed countries optimize people’s living standard and eradicate poverty in the poor countries. Due to the backwardness of science and technology, people in some underdeveloped countries and regions such as Africa, Latin America and Asia suffer a great deal from poverty, hunger and the scarcity of water. International aids from developed countries have improved their living environment and helped them with the development of agriculture, industry and economy.
In addition, international aids give good medical care and help promote hygienic condition in the poor counties. Malaria (疟疾), cholera (霍乱) and smallpox (天花) were once severe threats to people’s health. With the help of the World Health Organization and some developed countries, these diseases have been eliminated soon and the residents in the infected areas survived these deadly diseases, which would have devoured millions of lives without international aid.
Last but not least important, aids to the underdeveloped countries in turn benefit the donators. Due to the limitation of natural and human resources, the production cost rises sharply in the developed countries. With a view to reducing cost, many countries transferred their assembly lines and production basses to the developing countries, which not only solves the problem of low rate of employment in the developing countries but also make full use of the local resources.
Nevertheless, some countries are showing great concern about the mal-expense of their aid aroused by bureaucracy and corruption of some governments. Therefore, the governments should take effective measures to utilize international aids reasonably and prevent abuse. Only with the help of international aids, can our world develop more quickly and prosperously.
10
A number of different medical traditions are now widely known and used: Western medicine (using drugs and surgery), herbal medicine, acupuncture (using needles at certain points of the body), homeopathy (using minute dose of poisons), and so on.
How important is the patient’s mental attitude towards his / her treatment in determining the effectiveness of the treatment?
A wide range of medical treatments is available today. Patients may wonder which will be the most effective, and whether their own mental attitude to the type of treatment might affect its success. This essay will consider the second of these questions.
Many people visit their doctor or go to hospital with complete trust in the expert care offered by conventional services. However, some people do not get a satisfactory result. For example, the drugs which are prescribed may have unpleasant side effects. Their initial positive attitude towards their treatment does them little good.
Similarly, those patients who trustfully choose alternative treatments over traditional medicine may find themselves disillusioned. Less rigorous qualification standards among alternative practitioners may mean that some healers give ineffective or damaging advice. The result, again, is that a patient who entered treatment with confidence leaves that treatment disillusioned.
On the other hand, patients may try a style of treatment with some skepticism. A person used to conventional medicines and drugs may be suspicious of treatments based on diet and lifestyle changes. Yet if they follow such programs, they may in fact notice improvements in their conditions, in spite of their skepticism. Equally, a patient opposed to conventional medicine may have an accident and be saved by the effective treatment of conventional emergency services.
In conclusion, it appears that the mental attitude of the patient is not the most significant factor in determining the outcome of the treatment. Patients who enter treatment confidently may leave disillusioned while those who begin treatment skeptical of the results may find themselves surprised with what they have gained. Patients should seek the advantages, which each style of care can offer.