Essays 111-115
111 AD Do you agree or disagree with following statement? It is better to be a member of a group than to be the leader of a group. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
According to my opinion, it’s always better to be a leader than a follower. True leader show initiative. They take action and they assume responsibility. A leader makes a decision. Some followers may approve of the decision, others may complain about it. However, these followers all chose to follow, not to lead. They chose not to make a decision. That’s how I’m different. I’m not a follower. I want to make the decisions.
Good leader will not react to events, but will anticipate them .A leader will start a plan of action and then will persuade others to follow. For example, a class president at a local college may feel that the relationship between the community and the campus is not a good one .The citizens may feel that the college kids make too much noise on the street, litter public areas, and shop in other communities. A good class president will recognize that the community and the campus depend on one another. The president will ask the student body to keep noise down, help clean up the neighborhoods, and work with businesses to attract students. A good leader takes the initiative.
Good leaders must be action-oriented. Having taken the initiative, they must see the job though. They have to take charge and lead the followers. They have to motivate and encourage the followers. The followers (in this example, the student body) must understand why good relations with the community are necessary. The followers must be persuaded to do something about it.
I enjoy taking the initiative, determining the direction, and being responsible for my actions. I don’t want to suffer through other people’s stupid decisions. If there are going to be stupid ways to do something, let them be mine. Wouldn’t you agree?
112 EX What do you consider to be the most important room in a house? Why is this room more important to you than any other room? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
The kitchen is my favorite room in a house, because it is where families gather. To me, that is the most important thing. So many of the memories people have of growing up revolve around the kitchen. My childhood memories concern the kitchens in my grandparents ‘homes.
My mother’s family lived in a row house in the city. The rooms were all small, and that included the kitchen. In the summertime, when we’d visit, the back door of the house would be left open. People would be sitting on the back porch and in the kitchen, talking and laughing, while my grandmother made dinner. There was no air-conditioning, but I don’t ever remember feeling too hot. There was always a breeze coming through, along with the sounds of traffic and kids playing ball in the street.
My father’s family liver on a farm in the country, and their house had a huge kitchen with windows on three sides. It seems like the windows were always open and the curtains blowing with the breeze. The main door to the house was almost never used. Everyone came in through the kitchen, and sat at the big table in the middle of the room. When dinner was being prepared, all the women would bustle around, while the men sat at the table talking about farm prices. Sometimes my grandmother wouldn’t even sit down during dinner, but would be refilling bowls of food and people’s glasses. From outside ,we could hear the cows in the field near the house.
These two kitchens are the background for some of my happiest memories. From the beginning of time, human beings have gathered together near the fire where the food was being prepared. I hope that never changes.
113 MA If you could make one important change in a school that you attended, what change would you make? Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer.
Most of the schools that I attended bad excellent programs and instructors. Unfortunately, at one school this was not the case. The foreign language program there needed both better planning and better instructors. If I could, I would make changes in three major areas.
The first step would be to offer third and fourth year language classes. This particular school had no language programs above the second year level. Students who started language classes in the first year ran out of classes to talk by the time they were halfway through the school. This was frustrating for those of us who loved learning languages. It also had bad affects when we tried to resume language studies in college after a two-year break.
Next, the foreign language program should be staffed with well-trained instructors. The current teachers in the program don’t speak the languages well enough. In our classes teachers frequently made errors while the students repeated. If the teachers were well-trained, they would be good models for the students.
Finally, the materials in the language courses should be updated. They need to use modern technology. Even though the school has a computer laboratory, our language class never used it. We were limited to using the assigned textbook. If software was available, the students could search the Internet for current, real-life materials, such as newspapers from other countries.
Understanding people from other countries depends on being able to communicate with them. Poor language instruction makes this impossible. Improving the foreign language program would really make a difference to the students of the school.
114 MA A gift (such as a camera, a soccer ball, or an animal) can contribute to a child’s development. What gift would you give to help a child develop? Why? Use reasons and specific examples to support your choice.
When I was about 10 years old, my older sister gave me a present. It was my first real grown-up bicycle: a three-speed, yellow and black, shiny and new. I still remember how excited I was. That bicycle was very important to me over the next few years. If I wanted to give a gift that would contribute to a child’s development, I would choose a bicycle.
Bikes are great exercise. They encourage outdoor play. Television and video games, which are the most popular children’s activities nowadays, involve mostly sitting and starting. Riding a bike makes exercise fun.
Bikes are convenient transportation, too. Without a bike you have to depend on an adult to drive you almost everywhere. With a bike you can go farther. You can ride to your friend’s bouses. If your school is close enough, you can take yourself to school. You have control over where you go, and you’re not always waiting or begging for a ride. Now you can say “Can I go ……?” instead of “Please take me!”
To me as a child, a bicycle meant independence. Not only could I could I go farther, but no one was watching where I went. The road went past the park, the pond, the woods, the 7-11 store, and more. I saw the network of little neighborhood roads from a different viewpoint. I could stop anywhere and look at whatever I wanted. Everything was my choice. Bike riding was active, not passive.
My bicycle gave me fun exercise, easy transportation, and freedom. For all these reasons, I think that a bicycle is a special present for a child.
115 PR Some people believe that students should be given one long vacation each year. Others believe that students should have several short vacations throughout the year. Which viewpoint do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.
I like the idea of students having several short vacations throughout the year. I’m a working parent with two school-age children. Every summer I have to come up with a plan for keeping my children safe and entertained for three months, while my husband and I are at work. Summer camps are expensive, and finding the one your children will enjoy can be a challenge. Getting rid of that one long vacation would make life a lot easier.
Having several shorter vacations would also make it easier to schedule vacations. My husband and I both work in small offices with other working parents. All of us need vacation time during the same three months. This is hard on our businesses and our careers.
We also find that wherever we go in the summer, it’s crowded. It would be nice to go places throughout the year and find smaller crowds. I’m sure the attractions themselves would like that better, too. It would be better for the economy to spread things out, too.
I think my children would be more focused on their students if their vacation time was divided up throughout the year. The final month of the school year, they’re just not paying attention. They’ve been in school for nine long months and they don’t have a lot of energy. Plus , they’re anticipating vacation time. If vacations were throughout the year, they would concentrate better on studies.
Of course, many older school buildings aren’t air-conditioned, because usually people aren’t there during the hottest months. That might be a problem, I think, though, that new air-conditioning would be worth the cost. During the last few weeks of summer, my children are bored with their long vacation. I doubt that would happen if there were several vacations throughout the year.
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