Large factory near community

A company has announced that it wishes to build a large factory near your community.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this new influence on your community. Do you support or oppose the factory? Explain your position.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

model answer:

New factories often bring many good things to a community, such as jobs and increased prosperity. However, in my opinion, the benefits of having a factory are outweighed by the risks. That is why I oppose the plan to build a factory near my community.

I believe that this city would be harmed by a large factory. In particular, a factory would destroy the quality of the air and water in town. Factories bring smog and pollution. In the long run, the environment will be hurt and people’s health will be affected. Having a factory is not worth that rise.

Of course, more jobs will be created by the factory. Our population will grow. To accommodate more workers, more homes and stores will be needed. Do we really want this much growth, so fast? If our town is going in growth, I would prefer slow growth with good planning. I don’t want to see rows of cheaply constructed townhouses. Our quality of life must be considered.

I believe that this growth will change our city too much. I love my hometown because it is a safe, small town. It is also easy to travel here. If we must expand to hold new citizens, the small-town feel will be gone. I mould miss that greatly.

A factory would be helpful in some ways. However, I feel that the dangers are greater than the benefits. I cannot support a plan to build a factory here, and hope that others feel the same way.

(251 words)

Hometown

Write about the following topic:

If you could change one important thing about your hometown, what would you change?

Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

model answer:

If I could change one thing about my hometown, I think it would be the fact that there’s no sense of community here. People don’t feel connected, they don’t look out for each other, and they don’t get to know their neighbors.

People come and go a lot here. They change jobs frequently and move on. This means that they don’t put down roots in the community. They don’t join community organizations and they’re not willing to get involved in trying to improve the quality of life. If someone has a petition to put in a new street light, she has a very hard time getting a lot of people to sign. They don’t feel it has anything to do with them. They don’t get involved in improving the schools because they don’t think the quality of education is important to their lives. They don’t see the connection between themselves and the rest of their community.

People don’t try to support others around them. They don’t keep a friendly eye on their children, or check in on older folks if they don’t see them for a few days. They’re not aware when people around them may be going through a hard time. For example, they may not know if a neighbor loses a loved one. There’s not a lot of community support for individuals.

Neighbors don’t get to know each other. Again, this is because people come and go within a few years. So when neighbors go on vacation, no one is keeping an eye on their house. No one is making sure nothing suspicious is going on there, like lights in the middle of the night. When neighbors’ children are cutting across someone’s lawn on their bikes, there’s no friendly way of casually mentioning the problem. People immediately act as if it’s a major property disagreement.

My hometown is a nice place to live in many ways, but it would be much nice if we had that sense of community.

Working parents

In today's competitive world, many families find it necessary for both parents to go out to work. While some say the children in these families benefit from the additional income, others feel they lack support because of their parents' absence.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

model answer:

In the past a typical family consisted of a father who went out to work and a mother who stayed at home and looked after the children. Nowadays, it is the norm for both parents to work. This situation can affect children both positively and negatively.

Some people think that the children of working parents are in an advantageous position where their parents are able to afford mere luxuries such as new clothes, video games or mobile phones. Proponents of this view argue that children are able to enjoy and experience more from life due to their parents' extra wealth, for example, by going on foreign holidays.

On the other hand, however, there are those who claim that when both parents work, their children do not get enough support and attention, meaning that the children might not do as well at school because there is no one at house to provide support with such things as homework or exam revision. The absence of a parent at home could make it easier for children to get involved in such things as drugs or undertake drinking.

When I was growing up, both my parents worked and I was always well provided for. On the other hand, I think that it would sometimes have been better if I could have seen more of my parents.

In conclusion, I believe that we cannot change the fact that both parents have to work nowadays. It is not an ideal situation, but if parents make time for their children in the evenings and at the weekends, then the children will not suffer in any way. It must be stated that the extra income generated by both parents working, makes for a much higher standard of living which benefits the whole family.

(295 words)

Computer effects on your children

Using a computer every day can have more negative than positive effects on your children.

Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

model answer:

I tend to agree that young children can be negatively affected by too much time spent on the computer every day. This is partly because sitting in front of a screen for too long can be damaging to both the eyes and the physical posture of a young child, regardless of what they are using the computer for.

However, the main concern is about the type of computer activities that attract children. These are often electronic games that tend to be very intense and rather violent. The player is usually the ‘hero’ of the game and too much exposure can encourage children to be self-centred and insensitive to others.

Even when children use a computer for other purposes, such as getting information or emailing friends, it is no substitute for human interaction. Spending time with other children and sharing nonvirtual experiences is an important part of a child's development that cannot be provided by a computer.

In spite of this, the obvious benefits of computer skills for young children cannot be denied. Their adult world will be changing constantly in terms of technology and the Internet is the key to all the knowledge and information available in the world today. Therefore it is important that children learn at an early age to use the equipment enthusiastically and with confidence as they will need these skills throughout their studies and working lives.

I think the main point is to make sure that young children do not overuse computers. Parents must ensure that their children learn to enjoy other kinds of activity and not simply sit at home, learning to live in a virtual world.

(273 words)

Illiteracy

Illiteracy has traditionally been viewed as largely a third world problem.
However it is becoming apparent that in countries such as the USA and Australia, illiteracy is on the increase.

Discuss possible causes for this and its effect on society.

Write at least 250 words.

model answer:

It is true that illiteracy is becoming a serious problem in industrialised nations. This is surprising as most people think that this is a problem only in under-developed nations such as in parts of Africa and India. Illiteracy is related to many other problems such as poverty, over-population and governmental corruption. Let us take a more detailed look at the causes of this growing problem in many Western nations.

One of the most obvious reasons for the increase in illiteracy is the advent of television. Children no longer have to read to obtain information. Neither do they have to read to relax. Today children get home from school and go straight to “the box” to watch their favorite program. Watching television is much easier and more exciting than reading.

Another reason for the increase in illiteracy is the fact that so many women work. This means that children are often alone at home and so they are unsupervised. When parents get home they are often too tired to spend quality time whit their children.

It is also true that many people blame schools for the decline in illiteracy. In many countries there has been a move away from teaching basic skills such as reading and writing.

There are many effects of this growing illiteracy rate. The most obvious is unemployment. This may in turn lead to alcohol and drug abuse. Ultimately the economy of the country begins to suffer and there is a drop in living standards.

To address this problem, parents need to become more aware of their responsibilities and schools need to consider a change in their teaching methods. If this worsening trend is not reversed, the problem of illiteracy will become very serious.

(286 words)

Nicotine addiction

In a recent survey conducted in this country, it was found that up to 20% of twelve year-olds in some schools were showing early signs of nicotine addiction.
In the eighteen to twenty year age bracket the percentage was as high as 70%. A large contributing factor to this high level of addiction is attributed to the uncensored TV advertising of cigarettes.
For this reason all cigarette advertising should be banned.

Discuss.

Write at least 250 words.

model answer:

The issue of cigarette advertising is an important one, especially in this country where so many young adolescents smoke. One of the main causes of this problem is peer pressure. Another cause is advertising, especially TV advertising. Smoking, as we all know, leads to a number of health problems such as cancer and heart disease. Many people think that cigarette advertising should not be banned since this would limit our free choice in this matter. However there is growing evidence that this serious problem is getting out of control. Let us examine the facts more closely.

The most important reason why cigarette advertising should be banned is that cigarette is bad for our health. Smoking causes lung cancer and heart disease. Many people also suffer from slow and painful death from a disease called emphysema.

Another important reason why cigarette advertising should be banned is that it costs the tax payer money. People who become sick from smoking have to be cared for in expensive hospitals. In addition their deaths often results in financial problem for their families.

Finally cigarette smoking may lead to another problem namely drug addiction. Although there is not conclusive evidence that this often happens, many experts in this area feel that there is a connection between the two.

Perhaps a solution to this problem is the education of young children concerning the dangers of taking up this habit. Also a heavy tax could be placed on cigarettes so that youngsters would not be able to afford them. In any case, it seems beyond any reasonable doubt that cigarette advertising should be banned.

(267 words)

Population Growth

Counties such as China, India and Japan have unsustainable population growths. In fact many experts are of the opinion that the population ‘explosion’ which is now a very worrying concern, is the most serious threat to life on this planet.

Give some suggestions to address this problem.

Write at least 250 words.

model answer:

It is true that the population ‘explosion’ which has taken place over the last century, is a very serious problem. One of the main reasons for this unacceptable population growth is a lack of understanding about the environment. Over-population is the major reason for water, soil and air pollution. It is also often the cause of starvation and even wars. Experts have put forward many suggestions to address this problem. The following are just a few of these.

The most important weapon we have to fight population growth is education. This should start at a very early age i.e. before children even go to school. TV cartoons and children’s programs can be used to educate the very young. At high school level, students can be taught about the problem more directly. At university level, scholarships should be made available to students who wish to study further in this field. International exchange groups may also help to increase awareness.

Another important means of controlling population growth is to disadvantage people who have more than one or two children. This can be done, as it is in China, by means of a higher tax. Although it is controversial, persons who come forward to be sterilized could be given a sum of money. It may also be possible to make it advantageous for people to have only one child by giving such couples a special tax deduction.

It should also be possible to make contraception devices free to the public and easily obtainable.

This problem is a very difficult one to address but we should make every effort to do so. There are many other problems which are related to over-population such as increasing crime, illiteracy and pollution. So by addressing one problem we would be addressing the others as well.

(298 words)