范文四
TOPIC Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Grades (marks) encourage students to learn. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
ESSAY
Learning is a great tool. Grades are great reward for a good learning. Attending school is a great way to access your learning ability and performance. I believe that grades are great indicators of a good learning for the following reasons: They prove how well he or she has learned the topic, area of weakness, and what it needs to be done to improve.
Grades prove how well he or she has learned the topic. Take it for instance, if a person take an exam and perform poorly, then this prove that he did not prepare for the exam enough to pass. Therefore, grades are great indicators if a person was prepared for an exam or not.
Grades will also prove the area of weakness. Exams tend to gear the student on how to approach a particular exam and how to focus on the area of weakness. For example, if a person is preparing for a national exam, he or she must focus on the areas where he or she lacks. Grades will show which areas he or she performed well and the areas of poor performance. This set a guideline for a student to prepare more precisely to sharpen his weak area.
Grades also help student study harder. A student has the tendency to study harder if he or she gets a positive reward. For example, I used to be very unhappy if I did not pass an exam. Therefore, I took my unhappiness and anger toward my studying and put more hours into the subject so I can perform better. I recall an incidence in high school when I had failed my official exam which it made me realize that studying less will not be the solution and studying hard was my only way to pass this exam.
Grades are essential to every student and I believe it is a great way to gear student ability, and performance. They do help a student to focus, work harder, and concentrate and the area of weakness. Finally, assessment is a way of encouraging, and improving each student learning.
Notes:
reward 報(bào)答
indicators 指標(biāo)；指示針
weakness 弱點(diǎn)
guideline 指導(dǎo)方針
unhappiness 苦惱
assessment 評估
范文五
TOPIC How do movies or television influence people’s behavior? Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer.
ESSAY
Movies and television have changed the ways of people’s living enormously since they were first invented. Opinions over their virtues differ from person to person. Some people say that they have enriched our lives, while critics blame them for their poisonous effects. In fact, their influences depend on variables such as the viewer’s personality, the quality of programs, and the length of viewing time. According to many surveys and polls, heavy viewers often show serious behavioral defects that require medical therapy. These days, watching them has become a type of addiction for many people. They have exposed negative effects such as provoking aggressive attitudes, encouraging passive behavior, and inducing prodigality.
The gravest problem of TV and movies is that the flood of the violent scenes causes people to assault others without any slightest compunction. One day, adults, thought to be decent people get involved in alley quarrels and attack their neighbors. The rising rate of juvenile violence in schools makes youngsters shrink and hesitate to go to school. Psychologists assert that many children are desensitized（使……無情） by criminal actions on TV or in movies. Outrageous acts by scoundrels often go there without punishment, and the unlimited justice of heroes wins respect from people. Thus, the embellishment of illegal acts dilutes citizen’s law-abiding spirit.
Another problem from an overdose of TV or movies is that they invoke more passive attitudes from people, the opposite case of the aggressive tendency. In fact, information from the media is unilateral(單邊的) in that viewers experience only a one-way relationship. The addicted exhibit more shyness and withdrawal from reality. For instance, children spending too much time with a TV set don’t want to participate in class activities. They appear to flutter（飄揚(yáng)，顫動） on the outskirts of things. Many experts report that the impact is more conspicuous in introverts. Excessive viewing of TV or movies, thus, can block more active, direct involvement in real life.
Commercial advertising, directly or indirectly through TV or movies, has brought significant changes in consumption patterns. First of all, enticed( 誘惑，吸引) by information given about goods and services, audience tend to purchase things unnecessary for their living, which results in the waste of social resources. Also, commercials are deliberately manipulated by business industries whose goal is to maximize their economic gains. Businesses don’t care if consumers spend more than they earn. In the worst case, they cannot avoid private bankruptcy. These problems sometimes grow into curbs to the progress of the society.
We have discussed problems concerning TV and movies. However, not all of their effects are bad. In fact, positive influences are often observed in many programs and movies. For example, in developing countries, they contribute to promoting democracy by reporting important political issues to the public. And international films and television have opened a new age of globalization. Yet phantoms(鬼魅，幽靈) — violence, escapism, and extravagance（奢侈，浪費(fèi)） — attributed to television and movies, are still lingering（徘徊，磨蹭） in our society. We need to be mindful of what we watch.
Notes:
enormously 巨大地
poisonous 有害的
gravest 來重的
prodigality 浪費(fèi)
compunction 后悔
juvenile violence 青少年犯罪
introvert 性格內(nèi)向的人
escapism 逃避現(xiàn)實(shí)
范文六
TOPIC In general, people are living longer now. Discuss the causes of this phenomenon. Use specific reasons and details to develop your essay.
ESSAY
A hundred years ago, the average life span of a human was a little more than fifty years in most developed countries. In the year 2002, on the other hand, Japan has an average life span of 82 years for women. The United States has a life span almost as high. In fact, many countries have experienced similar increases. What accounts for this dramatic increase in longevity? Cures against disease, more accessible medical research on preventative medicine, and people’s constant drive against world hunger are three reasons to explain this phenomenon.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, doctors could not cure many diseases. For example, when my great grandfather became stricken with small pox, his doctor worked very hard to help treat the symptoms. But because there was no cure for small pox, he died a few weeks after being exposed to the virus. Nowadays, all children are required to receive a vaccination against small pox, making the occurrence of such an illness almost nonexistent. During the middle ages, thousands of people died in Europe because of the Bubonic Plague. This and other diseases, significantly causing death to people of young ages, are now eliminated due to simple vaccinations given to children.
In contrast to the past, modern society has ready access to medical research on preventative medicine. A current popular information medium on preventative medicine is the Internet. A useful Web Site titled WebMD has a wealth of information on cancer, sexual dysfunction, maintaining a daily exercise routine, diabetes, and so on. People can now learn how to prevent diseases by reading medical journals and articles available at a click of a mouse. In the past, this type of information was only available to those in the medical community.
To further reduce the number of people dying at younger ages, many countries have been educating their citizens about world hunger. Michael Jackson and other singers, a few years ago, wrote a song titled “Feed the World,” which raised millions of dollars for starving children in Africa. Many nonprofit organizations to feed starving children in many countries spawned from that drive. It is not uncommon to see television advertisements in the United States soliciting donations from Americans in an effort to feed those inside and outside the borders of the United States. Consequently, many children who would have otherwise died due to starvation are given vitamins, staple foods, and preventative medicines to help extend their life-spans and quality of life.
Cures for once incurable diseases, easier access to medical research on how to prevent diseases, and more food and money to children in starving countries now give many the opportunity to live longer and healthier lives. Perhaps in 2102, at our current rate of medicinal innovation, the average life span of those living in developing countries may extend to 100 years.
Notes:
longevity 長壽
preventative 預(yù)防性的
stricken with 被折磨
virus 病毒
nonprofit organization 非盈利組織
donation 捐贈
