Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having a car.

Nowadays, as roads are becoming more and more crowded, people are considering both the advantages and disadvantages of having a car before they buy one.

The main advantage of the car is that it gives the freedom to travel when and where you want, without being limited to fixed routes and timetables. What is more, you can carry several passengers and as much luggage as you like, at no extra cost. In addition to this, you can travel in comfort in a car, with a seat to yourself and the possibility of comforts such as a music system and air conditioning.

On the other hand, owning a car is very expensive. As well as the price of the car, the cost of tax, insurance, petrol and repairs must also be considered before buying. Moreover, the increase in traffic means that drivers are spending more and more time stuck in traffic jams. Perhaps the major disadvantage of cars in general is the huge damage that they do to human life and to the environment, and all motorists much accept that they are making a small contribution to this.

To sum up, provided you have access to an efficient public transport system, then buying and running your own car could be considered an expensive luxury.

(213 words)

162. Research indicates that the characteristics we are born with have much more influence on our personality and development than any experiences we may have in our life.
Which do you consider to be the major influence?

Today the way we consider human psychology and mental development is heavily influenced by the genetic sciences. We now understand the importance of inherited characteristics more than over before. Yet we are still unable to decide whether an individual’s personality and development are more influenced by genetic factors (nature) or by the environment (nurture).

Research, relating to identical twins, has highlighted how significant inherited characteristics can be for an individual's life. But whether these characteristics are able to develop within the personality of an individual surely depends on whether the circumstances allow such a development. It seems that the experiences we have in life are so unpredictable and so powerful, that they can boost or over-ride other influences, and there seems to be plenty of research findings to confirm this.

My own view is that there is no one major influence in a person's life. Instead, the traits we inherit from our parents and the situation and experiences that we encounter in life are constantly interacting. It is the interaction of the two that shapes a person's personality and dictates how that personality develops. If this were not true, we would be able to predict the behavior and character of a person from the moment they were born.

In conclusion, I do not think that either nature or nurture is the major influence on a person, but that both have powerful effects. How these factors interact is still unknown today and they remain largely unpredictable in a person’s life.

(249 words)

163. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? A person should never make an important decision alone. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

From my everyday experience and observation I can claim that discussion of an important decision with other people bring many benefits. In the following paragraphs I will give my reasons to defend this statement.

First of all, different people have different opinions. In order to make the right choice people should discuss every possible decision and its consequences. Making an important decision alone can bring many negative aspects. For instance, a person can reveal his selfishness or impatience and the consequences of that decision can affect many people in the future. I think that a good and wise decision can be born only in discussion because people can share their knowledge and experiences a look at the problem from different sides and aspects.

Second of all, I think that making decision alone is unacceptable especially for a company. Imagine that a chief makes the decision about increasing a production line without discussing it with his employees. In this case a part of company's profit will be spending on extended purchase of raw materials. So, share holders will be left without dividends. This decision may lead to getting rid of company's shares and as a result of this declining the value of a company as a whole.

To sum up, I think that a person should always consult his relatives or colleges when making an important decision to avoid possible mistakes.

(230 words)

164. You have decided to give several hours of your time each month to improve the community where you live.
What is one thing you will do to improve your community? Why?
Use specific reasons and details to explain your choice.

I think the question what would I do if I had a chance to improve my community is difficult. I have in my mind many things, the improvement of which will make our community better place to live but they all require the participation of many people and, moreover, they require investments, which I can not provide. For example, my community is quite noisy. We have the huge mall just in front of our community, so traffic jams are very common for this place. I think that the construction of a few pass-by roads will benefit all people who live here as well as people who drive by every day.

Unfortunately, the question is what I can do for my community giving a few hours of my time every month. I think I can not do much, but I still can help someone in my community. For example, I can baby-sit. I know a couple of families with little children, who can not afford to spend much money on the baby-sitter. One of these families is a single mom with a little girl. Julia, this is her name, is a waitress in a restaurant. She is a great person and we became close friends. So, sometimes I offer her help with her child when she has to work in the evenings. Another family has two funny little twins. One time their parents asked me to babysit their children because they had to attend an unexpected presentation.

I think this kind of help brings many benefits to my community. First of all, people become friendlier. For example, those families, which I mentioned above, became friends after I introduced them to each other. Second of all, people get to know each other and feel more secure in their houses and apartments. Finally, I am ready to help those people because I am sure that they will help me too. One time I lost the keys from my car and Julia offered me her car for a while.

To sum up, I believe that baby-sitting is a great way to help my community in many aspects.

(353 words)

165. If you could change one important thing about your hometown, what would you change? Use reasons and specific examples to support your 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.

166. A foreign visitor has only one day to spend in your country.
Where should this visitor go on that day? Why?
Use specific reasons and details to support your choice.

Traveling is a good way to find out more about different countries with different traditions and customs. Some travelers prefer to spend in one country just a few days or one day and then leave for another country. This way of traveling allows people to visit more countries in fewer days. Unfortunately, in this case such travelers have to hurry in order to visit more places.

I am from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. So, if a foreign visitor has only one day to spend in my country I think I would advice him to visit the "Hermitage" - the most well known and amazing museum in Russia. The "Hermitage" has 3 floors and more then 100 halls. It is really amazing to visit that place. Many people from all over the world every day enter its walls. Some of the rooms devoted to the history of other countries. Others devoted to the art of a famous painter and the history of his life. However, most of the halls conclude many things such as paintings, royal belongings, sculptures from Russian history.

Some people say that it is impossible to feel deeply and see all these amazing historical values for one visit. I have to completely agree with this statement. When I first visited the "Hermitage" I was 14 years old. It impressed me so much that I was back next day to see what I had not been able to see the day before.

The "Hermitage" is an impressive and beautiful museum. I think it is worth to spend there a whole day and I believe that after that a foreign visitor can claim with a proud that he or she saw Russia.

(280 words)

VALUE

167. Successful sports professionals can earn a great deal more money than people in other important professions.
Some people think this is fully justified while others think it is unfair.
Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

As a result of constant media attention, sports professionals in my country have become stars and celebrities, and those at the top are paid huge salaries. Just like movie stars, they live extravagant lifestyles with huge houses and cars.

Many people find their rewards unfair, especially when comparing these super salaries with those of top surgeons or research scientists, or even leading politicians who have the responsibility of governing the country. However, sports salaries are not determined by considering the contribution to society a person makes, or the level of responsibility he or she holds. Instead, they reflect the public popularity of sport in general and the level of public support that successful stars can generate. So the notion of ‘fairness’ is not the issue.

Those who feel that sports stars’ salaries are justified might argue that the number of professionals with real talent are very few, and the money is a recognition of the skills and dedication a person needs to be successful. Competition is constant and a player is tested every time they perform in their relatively short career. The pressure from the media is intense and there is little privacy out of the spotlight. So all of these factors may justify the huge earnings.

Personally, I think that the amount of money such sports stars make is more justified than the huge earnings of movie stars, but at the same time, it indicates that our society places more value on sport than on more essential professions and achievements.

168. It is generally agreed that society benefits from the work of its members.
Compare the contributions of artists to society with the contributions of scientists to society.
Which type of contribution do you think is valued more by your society? Give specific reasons to support your answer.

From my everyday experience and observation I think that artists as well as scientists bring many benefits to society. It is a controversial question weather the contributions of artists are more or less then the contributions of scientists to the society. For several reasons, which I will mention bellow, I think that both types are valuable, priceless and irreplaceable for every society.

The contributions of artists to the society are very essential. Art can form person’s spiritual sense, their views and personalities. People learn history, the traditions of their country trough the art. We also watch movies that entertain and at the same time extend our range of interests. Another important aspect of this is that art is an ancient means of communication. In old times people depicted the herds of mammoths on the walls of their caves. They performed different rituals around the fireplace asking their gods for health, good harvest and weather. Our language is a result of people's need to communicate.

From the other side, the contribution of scientists is could not be exaggerated. All humankind is indebted to the scientists because of their work and achievements. Scientists make our life easier. We have cars and airplanes to move fast from one place to another. We have microwaves and a bunch of preprocessed food to make the cooking much easier. We have different devices that simplify all we do. Finally, scientists are making great achievements in medicine that make our life longer and happier. Nowadays people have a great opportunity to do many things faster by use of computers.

To sup up, I believe that artists nourish our souls when scientists and technology feed our minds. So, we can not eliminate or underestimate one of them.

169. People who have original ideas are of much greater value to society than those who are simply able to copy the ideas of others well. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

I certainly agree that people who come up with new ideas; in other words those who 'invent' or 'discover' things are terribly important to society as a whole. However, I also think there is a role in society for good imitators.

No one would deny that key individuals must be thanked for providing us with certain facilities that we use every day. Where, would we be, for example, without basic items such as the washing machine, the television and, more recently, the computer? These items are now used so regularly that we tend to take them for granted.

In fact, the society we live in today has become increasingly consumer-oriented, and while it may be possible to constantly update and improve consumer goods, not everyone where I live can afford the prices of these innovations. Furthermore not everyone lives in an area that has accessibility to the latest models on the market. For this reason, there is a value to be placed on being able to provide good copies of expensive items.

Having said that, certain innovations have a more serious impact on our lives than consumer goods and cannot easily be replicated. Vital medicines like penicillin and vaccines against dangerous diseases also exist because people made continual efforts to develop them. Scientific ideas such as these enable us to live longer and escape illness.

(225 words)

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 1882