2013-01-05It has been believed that people who read for pleasure have developedbetter imagination and good language skills than people who prefer to watch TV. Towhat extent do you agree or disagree?There exists such a controversy -which is better to enhance imagination and language skills between reading and watching TV, most people assert reading literatures seemsto be a universal method to promote one's imagination creativity and language c ompetence. In the meantime, others insist that watching TV programs isa more effective way. Personally speaking, I am in favour of the former viewpoint. Reading has been acknowledged for long as a unique solution with regard to enhancing one's imagination capability and language skills. Firstand foremost, individuals could imagine much further beyond words on a book.Fairy tales, for instance, can provide such an environment for creative thinking andhelp people, especially the youngsters, to build up the characters in stories merely by their imagination. This situation, on the contrary, can barely be achieved by watching video images. Most of these predigested programs abase us as passive audiences ending up receiving information from the editors? im agination. Moreover, massive reading enables ones to immerse themselves into the ocean of glourious inspiration and expression of the authors. These selected words, logical coherence and structures are the best materials for those who are lack of writing skills. On the other hand, informal language is ubiquitously utilized in TV programs where coarse and disordered contents a re normally included. In spite of this, TV broadcasting is still crucial to advance one's language ability. By watching videos and listening to the audio, people are more likely to have a better understanding of the concepts they are unfamiliar with. It can never be neglected that numerous learners consider TV programs as a more comfortable and useful way to boost their interestin language learning. Turning to the stimulation of creative imaginationand expression practice, however, TV shows is still of less significance than its paper-based counterpart.All things considered, not only does reading play a dominant role in developing one's imaginative ability, it also brings about the opportunity for the readers to embrace advanced literature proficiency in ways that one cannot acquire from watching TV. Hence, reading should be encouraged rather than the latter.2013-01-19Childcare is an important task for nations. It is suggested that all mothers andfathers should be required to take the childcare training courses. To what extentdo you agree or disagree with the statement?Childcare skills, which used to pass from generation to generation, nowadays have been developed into some formal courses in many countries and young parents are encouraged to register in these programs. I personally support such action.The development in one?s early stage of life is so vital that free access to professional childcare programs, which are not only about nutrition, for all parents should be available. The rationale behind my suggestion i ncludes that young parentsequipped with sufficient childcare knowledge about childcare can better protect their infants or toddlers from various risks, detect possible warning signs of development delay, better understand a child?s emotional needs and help establish healthy eating habits. Overall, these parents tend to help children grow to their fullest potential physically, emotionally and intellectually and these advantages would affect the futurelife of their children for long term.It is certainly true that our grandparents never attended any parenting classes and they raised our parents with no major regret. It seems that we could keep this tradition, learning from our parents. However, this is impractical in modern society. The decreasing birth rate and smaller scale of families means that the young generation have no chance to help mum take care of their little siblings or witness the process and learn some from their mum. And they are largely no longer living under the same roof withtheir parents when they grow up and hence have little chance to learn from their parents how to raise a baby properly.It is also understandable that working parents are sometimes not in a position toget involved in formal parenting courses, especially fathers who usually are the bread earners and dedicate most of their time to their work and leave little time to their families. Nevertheless, such obstacles can be removed by flexible ways of delivering childcare courses, such as the Internet, TV or radio. Or the courses can last for a few years since young couples consider starting a family. In addition, research findings suggest that the increasing involvement of fathers in interactive activitieswith children helps with healthy development of a baby. Of course, since childcare training is related to the overall citizen quality of a nation, the government should coverall the cost and the parents do not have to worry about the fees.My personal point of view is that childcare training courses should be compulsory. They promote healthy development of a person in early stage of life, and this makes eligible parents, a happy family and a strong nation.2013-01-12In some countries, children are expected to study long hours both in and afterschool and have little free time. Does it have positive or negative effects on childrenand the society they lived in?Education, especially children's, is undoubtedly of the utmost importance to a nation's sustained economic development. In some countries, currently, a broad swath of students spend a huge amount of time working hard at school as well as after school, leading to the fact that they enjoy less leisure time.On the one hand, through continuous study children can have a thorough grasp of anin-depth knowledge which will be an asset for a lifetime. The education they receive,not only in school but at home, is not just a key to open the doors of various professions, but a social resource, enabling them to mix with many people in thefuture. In a time when it is so easy to learn whatever one would like to, the long time children spend will finally justify itself. On the other, the detrimental effects ofworking long hours on healthy growth, however, are apparent to be seen. The lasting sedentary lifestyle providing them with scarce opportunities to do physical exercisesput their health at risk. Meanwhile, long time immersion in the academic coursesdeprives of their extra-curricular activities, which would possibly fail to enable thekids to achieve physical and mental fitness. These activities pave theway for teenag ers? long-term ability to socialize and build long-lasting friendship with others, and some are even likely to contribute to discipline learning. For the society, long studying time has successfully creates an atmosphere forlearning, which in turn has far-reaching consequences for policy makers who decide what the government's education policies will be. Simultaneously, the phenomenon consequently causes increasingly fierce academic competition among peers; hence, itforwill generate various working opportunities, say, tutors or teachers of training classes, society, which will slightly release the employment burden. Students who are engaged in long-hour study, nevertheless, are likely to lose interest, leading to the fact that children's learning is inhibited. Therefore, the education system will be affected, to some extent.In conclusion, there are both upsides and downsides in terms of the issue that a considerable amount of time is spent by students on study. Only when children are encouraged to participate actively in more extra-curricular activities can they enjoythe benefits of working for a long time.2013-02-02Some people think it's all bad for children to watch TV, others believe watchingTV can bring positive effects on children when they grow up, discuss both and giveyour own opinion. Watching TV has always been an important part of after school life for children, and some of them even become TV addicts. Therefore some people advocate ,no TV for children?.Of course this is understandable. Firstly, children sitting too much time in front of a screen tend to have poor eyesight and weak body due to lack of physical exercise. They can also be lost in the virtual world and be insensitive to people around them, includingtheir parents, and this is detrimental to their family relationship and their emotional development. Another concern is about their mental development which needs various types of interactive activities, but obviously excessive TV viewing cannot meet such requirement. The worst part can be some programs which are not proper for childrento watch. Too many advertisements and news focusing on emergency and disasters on the screen are also a disadvantageous point for immature people who are prone to be influenced negatively.However watching TV in moderation with proper parental supervision can begood for children. There are plenty of educational programs which can expandnot children?s knowledge and spark their interest in exploring the world where they mayhave the opportunity to visit in real life, such as the nature and wild life. TV is not only an educational source, but is also a recreational activity. It can help enrich their after class activities. For example, children are always excited to watch cartoons and they would experience the adventure together with the characters in the show. Thepositive effects would be enlarged if children are able to share their TV time withtheir parents or peers, because they would have topics in commonand more communication can be followed.In general, I?d like to conclude that whether TV is good or bad is determined by howparents manage it. If parents limit TV hours and designate some educational and interesting programs and they keep their children accompanied, healthy viewing habit would be established and positive effects would be maximized. Otherwise, watching TV can be a worrying situation.2013-02-16Some p eople think all lawbreakers should be taken in to prison, others believe thatthere are better alternatives, (for example, being work to do which is beneficialfor local community). Discuss both views and give your own opinion.How to handle criminals is a problem that all countries and societies face. Traditionally, the approach has been to punish them by placing them in prisons to pay for what they have done. Some, however, advocate for trying to make them better with training and education and it seems they may have a good point.First and foremost, consider all the money that we have to spend to lock people up in jail. It doesn't seem like a good use of public money if the people don't actually get any better. Because most criminals eventually are let out of prison, our focus s hould be on making them better citizens.In fact, the reason why many people end up in jail in the first place is because they didn't have a good education or happy family. So if they can learn job skills they perhaps can find work and feel they can contribute in a positive way. If they do this, they won't need crime. Surly everyone deserves a second chance.Of course this does not mean that we should be too lenient on criminals. Those who commit crime should still be punished, but during their punishment they should also be treated. If we make an investment in them and show compassion, most will be able to make a new start.To summarize, we must make more of an effort to go to the root of the problem. We need to treat criminals as patients and give them the medicine they need: education and training. By giving people the skills for a second chance we can make our society safer and healthier.2012-02-23Not enough students choose science subjects in university in many countries.What're the reasons for this problem? What're the effects on the society?In some developing countries, increasing number of university students major in business, accounting, communication or computer programing rather than science. I personally believe that this is an inevitable transition in the epoch of information and globalization when capital flows worldwide and communication technology play a rolein almost every field. The changes in technology and social evolvement are being reflected in the university subject preference.First and foremost, this phenomenon is largely related to employment rate andstarting salaries upon graduation. Science undergraduates risk higher unemployment and earn less than computer programmers or businessmen and the gap may be widerin Master degree. During the economic recession, some students with interest in science may give in to the pressure in reality. Another contributor is the difficulty of science subjects that prevent many potential students from enrolling in this faculty. Picturing oneself as a scientist is not easy for a high school leaver. On top of thedifficulty of this discipline itself, the application in practice and transforming intoprofit is harder.However, science is so crucial to our human society that no country can afford the consequences of ignoring it. Science is the basis of many practical disciplines such as environment science, medical science, space science, engineering, genetic science and so forth. Without the support of general science, many other fields would find it very challenging to get further developed. What’s worse, science is directly related to our material life. We live on scientific research findings and products, ranging fromenergy supply, aircraft to numerous consumer goods. It is hard to imagine living a life without these scientific advancements.To sum up, science is less popular than before because t he society requires more professionals in other fields such as business and communication. However I?m convinced that the potential implications are negative to the health of society, hence demanding relevant solutions to reverse the trend.2013-03-02Universities and colleges are now offering qualifications through distance learningfrom the Internet rather than teachers in the classroom.Do you think the advantages of this development overweight the disadavantages?Information technology is playing an increasingly important role in our life, especially in education. Although many people are able to acquire a higher academic qualification by attending a virtual college on the Internet, some people still doubt the effectiveness of online learning and prefer the traditional way of education.Compared to distance learning, physically attending a school has some intrinsic advantages for the students? o verall development. Also, teachers can adjust their teaching styles and their instructions to best suit the characteristics of their students. In addition to academic pursuits, students? e motional and social development can be significantly improved in school due to students? p articipat ion in extra-curricular activities and events. The emotional connection that often helps to generate inspiration, creativity and emotional wellbeing is vital for young students. In essence t he experience in the non-virtual world cannot be substituted by simply receiving lectures electronically and submitting essays. Admittedly distance learning programs offer a valuable option for people with special needs, such as the disabled, full time workers or those who have families to take care of and are not able to attend class at regular hours. Another advantage is the relatively less expensive tuition feesof distance programs due to the exclusion of financial cost of campus facilities.But this way of education is restricted to knowledge delivery and requires sufficient self-discipline and time-managing abilities; therefore it is not suitable for young students except as a complimentary source, as it can act as a virtual tutor or a tool for review or reinforcement of what is learned in regular schools.Overall, I would like to conclude that remote learning programs are making a contribution to wider education receivers by supplying more chances forthe acquisition of knowledge. But they cannot be expected to surpass the overall quality of education available at a college which provides both knowledge and an environment for students? overall development. This is the key factor ineducation.2013-03-09Some people believe that studying in a college or university is the best wayfor students to prepare for their future career. Others think they should leaveschool as soon as possible to develop their career through work experience.A typical option lying in front of high school graduators is whether to continuestudy in a university or work as soon as possible. Faced with distinct people, thequestion will have various answers. Yet which is the better way for the school leavers?With quantifiable benefits of a university rooted deeply in their mind, most peoplewould favor higher education. What is well-acknowledged is that worker with aabachelor?s degree generally earns nearly double the annual income of someone withhigh school diploma. As the “knowledge economy” replaces traditional industries, this gap is only going to widen. Meanwhile, the value or impact can be measured in waysother than pound and penny. The imparted habits of mind that foster an interest forlearning, an ambition to make a difference, and an awareness t o serve others allcontribute to university students. Nevertheless, tertiary education is never the only way toa successful l ife. A slew of people would turn to occupational education andjoin in the stream of car mechanics, builders, technical workers rather than beingqualified with professional certificates. These people are undeniably well-paidcompared with the university students. Moreover, the earlier one starts his career, themore working and social experience he will accumulate, which are highly valued bynumerous employers who would prefer staff that requires less job training yet is able toachieve effective. communication and high working efficiency. Additionally, capabilityof dealing with complex issues which is not equipped by students can be anothersuperiority of a skilled worker when encountering dynamic working condition. To sumup, either going to universtity or work can be a wise choice depending on one?s interestfor can he or sheand personal traits. Only when one is doing a job he or she has passionreach the best performance. As the old saying reads, “every profession producesits own topmost master.”　2013-03-14When designing a building, the most important thing to take into account is theintended use of the building rather than its outward appearance. to what extent doyou agree or disagree. The view that function should come first in architecture is undoubtedly preferred by me, although I have no intention to deny that beauty is also an important element in construction.In essence, any building is constructed to serve a purpose, which might be accommodating, storing, recreating, entertaining, manufacturing and soforth. Therefore utility is widely recognized by most architects and the general publicas well. It is especially practical today to consider such characteristics asspatial grammar, convenience, firmness, material cost and constructionspeed in the residential construction due to the stress on house accessfrom the increasing population and the development of urbanization. Focusing on function is also a cost s aving practice as various ornaments which serve no obvious function would be simplified at the greatest extent or even eliminated.However, artistic structures can be seen in many places around the world. Humanhas the nature to pursue beauty and express their feelings through art works and architecture definitely is one of them by which this goal can be achieved. Over emphasis on architectural function tends to global similarity as international tourists have witnessed. In contrast, a building with certain aesthetic value is always uniqueand therefore adorned by local people or even foreigners and cherished as a culturalnot treasure, such as the Bird?s Nest and the Water Cube in Beijing which have beenonly an ordinary Olympic stadium or a swimming pool but also a hot tourist spot dueto their unique splendid exterior. However, the external appearance should not be themost important consideration as a good looking but less useful building is just a waste of substantial resources such as wood, steel, cement, energy sources and labor force, all of which have to be invested in construction.Overall, it would be ideal that a building satisfies both functional and aesthetic aspects. If these two cannot be achieved simultaneously, then function should be taken a s the priority instead of the outward look.2013-03-23 S cientific progress influences our daily life greatly.Do you think this is a positive or negative development?It is undeniable that technological advancement has made an unprecedented change in our daily life in the last century. Its destructive impacton our society, nonetheless, has also to be recognized.In the 20th century, a variety of significant inventions including jet planes, TV,cars, computers and telephones have fundamentally shaped our modern life, making long distance transportation more accessible and increasing international communication in many aspects including trade, culture and technology which expands our activity sphere and broadens our horizons. Moreover, our life expectancy is longer than ever before thanks to medical progress and a slew of fatal diseases such as heart disease and breast cancer can be cured. At the meantime, boosted industrial production brought by technological advancement has led us into a brand new era. For instance, robots have the capacity to dramatically improve product quality, for applications are performed with precision and high repeatability. It cannot be more a pparent that this level of consistent accuracy can be hard to achieve by any other way.However, it has been widely recognized that the benefits produced by technologydo not come at no cost. The environment deterioration makes the earth less livable largely due to the overuse of fuel sources for energy production and traffic exhaust.High efficiency of production, serving as another contributor, makes consumer goodsso cheap that people throw away food or anything out of date, which unfortunately isresponsible for the large amount of waste and meanwhile escalates the commodityproduction in turn. Overpopulation, as a consequence of the improved medical condition and better material life, has savagely deprived animals and plantsof their habitats, damaging the balance of the nature and eco-sustainability. In spiteof the medical progress, the public health ironically is not getting enhanced and the reason for this is modern sedentary lifestyle which features the addiction to TV, the computer and the internet.In conclusion, science and technology have changed our life in both positive and negative ways. While we enjoy more material affluence and convenience, we have to tolerate the contaminated environment and poor health. Maybe we should not be too optimistic about science and technology development.2013-06-15Some people think the family is the most powerful influence on child's development. Others，however, believe that other things(television, friends, music, etc.) have bigger effects.I often read some speech drafts describing the growing up of some leading figures in politics, sports, business or movie industries. They always attribute their diligence toMoremom?s determination and their generosity to the father?s intolerance.interestingly, almost the majority of Hollywood movie stars delivered their sincerethanks to their family members when they chaired the Oscar of Academy award. Therefore, I have solid reasons to believe the irrefragable function of the parental and maternal influence and other familial elements in the process of kid?s development.My recognition can be explained both by genetic traits and personal experiences. There had been a couple of research findings reporting that the genes have been always the seeds of forming the characters, intelligence quotient while the family members rooted deeply on the direction and process of character development. It can be easily concluded from the Japanese politicians who are always inherited the political vision and ambition from their father or grandfather. No matter the Shinzo Abe or American Bush family.And also we find more examples of many artists, physicians, or businessmen who seem to easily access t o success in relevant fields. such as Beethoven a nd Chinese famous nuclear physician Xueseng Qian families. Additionally, of course, most of people maybe fail to get success in career or to achieve their desired targets. However, these wisdoms overwhelm the belief that their daily behaviors and thinking abilities or even the ways they usually treat others or in some extreme occasions t hat they behaved so astonishingly similar to their father or siblings in their forte or expertise.Take my personal experience as an example, I invariably deem myself to be markedwith the common features in my family. I am especially keen on the imagination creativity and good at dealing with abstract concepts. By contrast, my neighbor,despite hard efforts he paid on writing or speech, still find extremely demanding in managing such affairs. Noticeably, he can manage the complicated trigonometric function even the matrix just a piece of cake, probably owing to his Mather who wasthe general accountant of one of famous Chinese securities company.Finally, it is still a chicken-or-egg question to say clearly about which one is thedeterminant factor in shaping the kid?s character. T he most rational and reasonable ground maybe lie on the mutual effects deriving from both the natured and nurtured factors. It is the integrated system that the familial elements planted the seeds while the television, friends, or music shaped their ways of development.。