TEM-2011:Should private car owners be taxed for pollution?With the development of society, many people can afford a car. As the numberof the cars is rising, we are facing some problems.One big problem is thepollution caused by the use of cars. In order to solve this problem, governmentagencies in some big cities recently suggest that a “ pollution tax ” should be put on private cars in order to control the number of cars and reduce pollution in thecity. For my part, I agree to this viewpoint, and my reasons are as follows:To begin with, cars contribute to the environmental pollution. For example, a lotof big cities in China are now plagued by serious air pollution. Then it is theresponsibility of these private car owners to pay for the pollution and theyshould be taxed. The purpose of collecting environmental pollution tax is toraise the fund, and then utilize the tax revenue lever to protect ourenvironment.Secondly, it is a good way to raise people ’ s environmental awareness by puttinga pollution tax on private cars. If people suffer from the financial loss whenmaking a decision, they will think more about their decision. Then they willconsider more when deciding to buy a private car. Consequently, the increaserate of the number of the private cars can be controlled.In a word, it is a very good and necessary attempt to use the means of taxationto treat the pollution. Of course, it must be kept in mind that all people,including the private car owners, should try their best to protect theenvironment.272wordsTEM-2010: Should College Students Hire Cleaners?According to a recent report, six university students hired cleaners to clean theirdorm and do their laundry every week. Although we have no right to tell themwhat to do with their money, as a university student myself, I find this practiceabsurd.For a start, away from our parents, it is in university that we learn to beindependent adults. Cleaning the room and doing one ’ s laundry are the mostbasic living skills. If we always depend on others to take care of us, how can wesurvive when there is no one to help us? How can we take on any responsibilitywhen we step into society?For another, the practice reflects their flippant attitude towards money. The money they paid for the cleaners probably comes from their parents, who mustbe very depressed once they know the truth. It also sets a very bad precedenton campus. Other students may follow suit to show the wealth of their families;or worse, they tend to think money can buy them anything in this world, whichobviously is wrong.All in all, I think we must do away with this practice. Otherwise, we may neverappreciate the good value of money and an independent way of life. The betterand sooner we can take care of ourselves, the more proud our parents will be.226word TEM-2009: Will Tourism Bring Harm to the Environment?In recent years, tourism has developed rapidly in China. Many people believethat tourism produce positive effects on economic growth and we should try ourbest to promote tourism. But what these people fail to see is that tourism maybring about a disastrous impact on our environment. As for me, I'm firmly convinced that too much tourists bring harm to the environment.The bad impact of tourism on the environment has mainly expressed itselfin various ways. One way is the process of exploiting a new scenic spot. In orderto attract tourists, a lot of artificial facilities have been built, which have certainunfavorable effects on the environment. This process usually breaks the ecological balance of the area. In some mountainous places, trees are being cutdown to build hotels for others to see and explore the beauty of the mountains.Then land slides and mud-rock flows come up. Another way the development oftourism has damaged the environment occurs when tourists go to scenic spots.Some tourists don't have the awareness to protect the environment, and ignorantly throw their garbage here and there. Some people even kill the localwildlife to eat, which badly damages the balance of the natural environment.It is wrong to sacrifice the environment for the growth of tourism. We mustkeep in mind that too much tourists bring harm to the environment. We need tofind a balance between satisfying the needs of tourists and reducing to a minimum the pollution they cause.251wordsTEM-2008:The Benefits of VolunteeringVolunteering means being willing to help people in need and makecontributions to society for no financial rewards. Needless to say, volunteeringis of tremendous benefits to both those in need and the society. Yet, despite thefact that volunteers are not paid for what they have done, serving as a volunteer,I believe, is also beneficial to the volunteers themselves.First, volunteering helps volunteers improve their interpersonal skills. Theycan understand people better and have better skills to motivate others and todeal with difficult situations in collaboration with people of differentpersonalities in their volunteering work.Besides, volunteering serves as a good opportunity for volunteers to applytheir knowledge to practical problems.This is especially useful for suddenvolunteers. For instance, students volunteering to assist foreign guests on bigoccasions like Canton Fair can not only practice their oral English, but also havefirst hand experience on the latest development of their field.Finally, volunteering satisfies one ’s psychological need for respect andself-fulfillment, and it gives the volunteers a sense of achievement.In a word, volunteering helps to improve one’s interpersonal skills, applyone ’s knowledge to practice, and give the volunteers a sense of self-fulfillment.It is of great benefits to the society, but it benefits the volunteers even greater.(216 words)TEM-2007:Is It Wise to Make Friends Online?（1 ） Is it wise to make friends online? (2) People ’s views about this issue vary from one toanother. (3) Some people think that it is unwise to make friendsonline while others think that there is nothing wrong with online friends. (4) Inmy point of view, although online friends cannot be always trusted, the benefitsfar outweigh the risks. (5) The reasons are mainly as follows:(6)First of all, it is easy and quick to get to know people and make new friendsonline. (7) We know friends are indispensable in our daily life but they cannotstay with us wherever we go. (8) For many people, especially college freshmen,leaving friends and the security of home for a new place where they don ’ t know anyone can be overwhelming. (9) With some online chatting tools such as QQand MSN, they can talk to people they like and find people with commoninterests easily. (10) In addition, online friends can help broaden our knowledgeabout different cultures and customs. (11) Chatting with people from differentplaces and social backgrounds is surely an effective way to understand othercultures and develop cross-cultural communication skills. (12) We can alsopractice our English in speaking and writing.(13)To sum up, making friends online is amazing. In the online global community we canenjoy an active social life with rewarding experience, so it iswise to make online friends.241wordsTEM-2006: Saving Money is a Good Habit（ 1 ）Recently the result of a survey conducted by a Beijing informationcompany has shown that the majority of Chinese students think that savingmoney is a good habit while the rest prefer to use tomorrow ’ s money. (2) As isseen to me, the principle of “ hard work and thrift ” is still at work in China, andI absolutely believe that we will profit more from saving money than fromspending tomorrow ’ s money.(3) Through saving money, we ’ ll be better prepared for our life. (4) There is anold saying that “ a penny saved is a penny earned ” . (5) In modern society, life isso changeable that we c an ’ t predict what will happen in the future. (6) So we ’ d better get prepared for unexpected emergencies. (7) What ’ s more,psychologically speaking, saving money means controlling money rather thanbeing controlled by money, and it enables us to be freer and more independent.(8) With the money we ’ ve saved, we don ’ t need to be too much concerned aboutthe old age or the monthly installment that we owe to the bank.Of course I don ’ t mean that we cannot loan money to buy a house or for someenjoyment. What I ’m saying is that we must think twice before spendingtomorrow ’ s money. (9) To put it in a nutshell, I ’ m a great believer that savingmoney is a good habit.230wordsTEM-2005: My Idea of a University Arts FestivalAn arts festival will no doubt add much to our campus life, since it, like othergroup activities, will be a stage on which students from different colleges anddepartments communicate and share their interests. This festival, of course,needs to be well organized, so as to get everyone involved. While all kinds ofactivities contribute to this great festival, lectures by leading artists in thiscountry will surely make it more successful.First of all, influential ‘ stars ’ are always an attraction to involve the greatestnumber of participants. The main purpose of this festival, just as other campusactivities, is to add variety to students ’ life. Its results and influence need to bemeasured more by the number of participants than by their artistic level it willdisplay. The more people get involved, the more successful the festival. While afew of the students are busy performing during the festival, lectures permit themajority to sit there listening and asking their ‘ masters ’ questions.Secondly, face-to-face communication between students, some of whomare potential artists, and the leading artists is always a bridge linking textbookknowledge and practice. University students spend most of their time learningfrom textbooks or at the library, but knowing how to do is quite different fromdoing it. The experience of and advice from those practitioners in the fields ofmusic, movie, and painting help university students to think what else theyneed to learn and what they will do in the future.What ’ s more, lectures by well -known experts will enhance the influence ofthe arts festival and the university. Arts festivals are held in many universities inthe city, but they are organized in more or less the same way. As far as I know,lectures are seldom part of them. Therefore, it will promote the reputation ofour festival, which is a new comer in the city.In a word, it will be beneficial to invite some experts to give lectures. It willget more students to get involved, students will benefit from lectures by experts,and it will draw more public attention to the festival.(353 words)TEM-2004: Will Phones Kill Letter Writing?Telephone is said to be one of the greatest inventions of the world, which hasrevolutionized people ’ s way of life. Although more and more people nowadaystend to phone more t han write letters, I still don ’ t believe phones will kill letter writing in people ’ s daily communication.People communicate for different purposes and in different ways. Letters,though traditional in a way, help people express their ideas in a more exactway ， without the careless tongue slips of telephone conversations. More importantly, it is long held that “ To see is to believe. ” and communication in written form is considered to be more formal than that done orally. Therefore,letters are always the preferred way of communication when it comes to formaloccasions like job application, nailing down a contract or traveling informationconfirmation. It is not entirely groundless to say that letters are still indispensable nowadays.In a word, letters have their unique features to satisfy certain communicationpurposes and will therefore never be replaced by phones in people ’ s daily life. It ’ s perhaps more appropriate to say that they supplement each other instead ofreplacing each other.187wordsTEM-2003:The Importance of Keeping a Good MoodWith the development of modern science, technology and economics, our livingstandard has reached an ever higher level. But more and more people are livingunder greater pressure than ever before. As a consequence, people areincreasingly suffering from various distortions both physically and mentally. Tohelp out, it is important that everyone keep a good mood today.There are several reasons for my argument. First, a good mood can create highefficiency. When you work with a good mood, you will feel happy and be willingto do some work which used to be boring. On the contrary, a bad mood canmake you passive and do things with reluctance. Second, a good mood isbeneficial to your health. If you fail to keep a good mood, you will be feelingdepressed and fed up, which is apt to cause some psychological diseases. Third,when you have a good mood, other people around you will be influenced. Thusmore and more people will feel happy to communicate with you.To sum up, keeping a good mood is very important both for yourself and for thepeople around you. If you want to have a happy and successful life, pleasekeep a good mood every day.206wordsTEM-2002:The Best Way to Stay HealthyNowadays ， the desire for good health is universal. Wherever you are andwhatever you do, staying healthy is always important. With the improvement ofour living standards, people are attaching more and more importance to theirhealth. However, which do you think is the best way to keep healthy?food, doing Different people come up with different views: eating greenoutdoor exercises or going to hospital for medical treatment frequently. As faras I am concerned, the best way to keep healthy is to develop a good quality ofpsychology.According to some surveys, nowadays, most patients are not physically sickbut mentally ill. The burden on their shoulders is much heavier than others, sothey can ’ t step out of the shadow of depression and sadness. They need torelease their spirit to the nature.Beside s, if you have developed a good quality of psychology, you ’ll becomesome keep-fit clubs or joining some travel agency, which by themselvesare various versions of physical exercise, will benefit you a lot.As a poem says, youth is not a period of time; it ’as state of mind. Everybody wants to keep young at heart because youth is a symbol for endlessenergy and passion for living.Keeping a good quality of mind and keeping a sense of humor are reallygood. Even if you are 80, and you ’ ll never be old.(254 words)TEM-2001: Travel Broadens the MindNowadays more and more people choose to travel during their holidays, sincetravel not only brings leisure and joy but also broadens the mind. As for me, notonly can it bring me more historical knowledge, but it can also add to my socialexperience.Take my trip to Mount Tai for example. As is known to all, it ’ s a magnificent mountain famous for both the beautiful scenery and the splendid cultural heritage. At the very sight of her, my soul was attached to her. I rememberedthe poem “ Wang Yue ” written by Du Fu, I remembered many historic eventswhich happened on this land and I also recalled the responsibility to conservethis heritage. As I climbed up the mountain, our guide told me many things Ihad never got to know before, which of course broadened my scope of knowledge. It was also on this trip that I made many new friends with whom Iexchanged my opinions, and that I got acquainted with some information aboutfirst aid and package tour. All this indeed added to my social experience.In short, travel offers a good chance for me to open my eyes and enrich myexperience while I can enjoy myself. It broadens the mind in a relaxing way.212wordsTEM-2000:The Importance of Extracurricular ActivitiesPeople have different ideas about how students should spend their schooldays. Some believe that students should spend the whole day on academicstudies. While others believe that extracurricular activities should be a requiredpart of every school day. Both ways have their advantages. But I prefer thelatter. The following are my reasons.As a student, our main task is to concentrate on our academic study. Wehave to attend classes, reading books and doing assignments. Only by workinghard can we learn our courses well. But I don ’ t think we should spend every hourand minute on academic study. A proverb says, “All work and no play makesJack a dull boy.” Without goodealth and strong body, how can we improve ourstudy efficiency and make great achievements in our academic study? Besides,spending the whole day on academic study may make us exhausted and weak.We should find other meaningful things to do besides studying. For example,doing extracurricular activities can make students’life more colorful andbeneficial. There are various forms of exercise. My favorite one is football. I playfootball with my classmates for one hour every afternoon. After a day’ s hard wor k, how nice it is to stretch my arms and legs! By playing football I’ ve got both joy and strength. I always look energetic.Actually doing extracurricular activities doesn’ t disturb our study if we makefull use of our time. Instead it does help us study more efficiently. We can begood at learning as well as extracurricular activities. So I suggest that studentsdo extracurricular activities along with their academic studies.(277 words)。