title
stringlengths 16
18
| lang
stringclasses 1
value | source_name
stringclasses 1
value | format
stringclasses 1
value | category
stringclasses 1
value | cefr_level
stringclasses 8
values | license
stringclasses 1
value | text
stringlengths 2.17k
5.1k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
001_BGSU1004.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
Our educational system in one of the largest in the world. It offers variety, diversity but not flexibility and value for money. This is due to the fact that many of our university degree courses are either illegal or award the students with jobless future. They do not motivate students to make further research Undergraduates are looking forward to receive their degrees for the sake of some future reward .
University degrees are necessary in out materialistic society. However degree levels in vocational subjects, such as art and design, engineering, business studies, and hotel and catering, do not have a future. The role of university degrees has been replaced by the fact that they tell you nothing about a person's true ability and aptitude. They are mark either of success or failure .
Furthermore they are theoretical and do not prepare students for real life .
A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is laid down by a syllabus and students are encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate students to make research and read widely, they induce studying for marks instead. They lower the standards of teaching and lead to theoretical degrees that are designed to be put in a frame and to serve as souvenirs .
The most successful Bachelors and Masters or PhDs are not always the best educated. They are the best trained in the technique of working under stress. They live in a world of vicious competition where success and failure are measured. University degrees do anything but prepare them for this competition. They do not prepare students to think for themselves and make their own research on a given subject. They put restrictions to their sphere of knowledge and do not give them any opportunity to widen the already existing theory or amend some of the old things and add some new information .
Degrees which can be completed in a shorter period of time, the so called "fast-track" degree courses are even less practically oriented. Standards are rigorous yet students tend to memorize information and creative work is left behind. Another important point that should be made is the fact that many "fast-track" degree courses do not reflect and adopt to the needs of real life or professional bodies. One might have many degrees of this kind but what is the point of having them if he cannot put into practice his knowledge .
Many university degrees are a result of a subjective assessment by some examiner who marks stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limit amount of time. Students even do not have right to appeal after their examiner's decision. That is why many capable students turn into drop-outs and drop-outs turns into millionaires .
In conclusion I would like to say that only when the university degree courses become more practically oriented and not so theoretical will university degrees have any value and adapt to the need of real life. Furthermore students will be encouraged to make some research on their own, to chose postgraduate courses and to get postgraduate degrees .
|
002_BGSU1018.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
What is the purpose of knowledge? Living in the end of the twentieth century is both difficult and easy to answer a question like that. But it is important to do so at least for ourselves .
The Earth with all its secrets, existing long before man had a chance to appear on it, has always been challenging mystery for people. Humans are created tireless investigators, eager discoverers, active thinkers. Knowledge for them is a goal, a condition, pleasure and a leader to improvement of they lives .
It seems logical enough for everybody to see the importance of the discoveries in science - they practically lead to welfare in the material sphere of life, or help to preserve life in the form considered normal. With science fields like Geography, Sociology, History, Law, Political Studies, Language Studies it is a little more difficult to define in what way they are useful in the real world .
Some of them serve society. Some of them just serve people's passion for theorizing, statistics - making, categorizing, going into the abstract. I do not know whether most university degrees are theoretical, but I can well tell about mine, which I am studying at present. It is called "English and American Studies" and it is maybe the ideal example of a degree which does not prepare students for the ' real world'. One side of this real world is the opportunities for a professional realization after graduation. Everyone who has heard about this educational programme has asked the question, "So what would you do after you graduate? Become a teacher?"
Well a difficult question indeed. Having studied all British and American history, literature and culture and having received profound knowledge in the field of linguistics (including Historical Linguistics) the poor graduate finds himself at a loss in a society which either needs him for a teacher, a translator, a tourist guide, or merely as someone who knows English and could sit all day at a secretary's desk, or else for nothing at all. It somehow does not seem "fair". Five years' striving in the labyrinth of science and then all knowledge has to be stored in one's consciousness of a learned man .
Of course, in any country different societies exist and the opportunities vary, as well as the values. In my opinion, young people should be well aware of their aims before they apply for a certain degree. If they cannot estimate by themselves, they should be able to receive advise. On the other hand, this means that young people at the age of eighteen have to be able to think as people at the age of twenty-three, which is an awful prospect. The dilemma is clear - either grow old before their time has come or prepare themselves to be disappointed and helpless when it would be late to think with their mature minds .
What I can conclude about this problem is that what we have is not a case so much of inadequate education but rather of inadequate society, because in a modern society there has to be place for all those who deal with impractical science; for knowledge is not a means for making material progress only. If it was, what would man be like?
|
003_BGSU1022.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
Nowadays education is indispensable for people in order to find their place in the real world. But is university education, in particular, of great help to one in doing this ? To my mind, most people would answer negatively to this question. Very often one feels dejected on finding out that after they have studied hard for 5 years in a university, most of the extensive knowledge that they accumulated there will hardly ever be useful to them in the real world. The reason for this is the fact that university education is much more theoretical than practical which turns out to be a decided disadvantage. One must always bear in mind that what matters more is not how much one knows but how well they can use what they know. Thus, it is pointless just to sit down and acquire knowledge solely in order to pass one's exams when one may probably never use it afterwards .
However, most universities maintain the tradition and continue teaching theory as before .
Last year, for example, we had a course in computing which was, on the whole, completely useless. Instead of being taught how to use a computer and different kinds of software, most of our time was taken up by theoretical explanations of the way in which computers work. I do not mean that this information is absolutely unnecessary but my point is that it is good for nothing when you do not know how to use a computer in order to write and print out our essay, for instance .
On the other hand, it would not be really true to say that university degrees are wholly unrewarding. Theoretical education may be less valuable than practical for one's life in the real world but, nevertheless it is very important. The reason for this is that no matter how irrelevant or impracticable it may be, it still provides one with some general idea about things in life and thus may serve as a standard for comparison. Then, as one has already formed some model to refer to, it would be easier for them to decide what to do in a certain situation. Despite the difficulty of putting theory in practice, it is far easier to do than to start directly with the latter. So, after all, it is much better to have theoretical knowledge than not to have any at all .
Both teachers and students have been aware of this particular deficiency of university education and its respective influence in one's life, so attempts have been made to correct it. One possible way of doing this has been through introduction and development of various applied sciences in recent years, like applied mathematics, applied linguistic and others. These, however, are not very wide-spread and only a small number of universities have them as separate courses .
Another way of making university degrees more useful to students is to achieve a certain balance between the two sides of education. Moreover, one should be free to choose whether to concentrate on theory or practice with respect to their future plans and personal preferences. This is very important because different jobs require different types of knowledge and what would be valuable for one student, would be of no use to another .
To sum it up, I would say that one cannot so quickly write university degrees and education off. There are still valid although they do not give one full knowledge of the real world. If they are not as good as they could be, it is up to us to change them and to make them better .
Then one will feel more confident on leaving university that they are ready to cope with problems and difficulties in life .
|
004_BGSU1057.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Some people say that in our modern world, dominated by science, technology and industrialisation, there is no longer a place for dreaming and imagination. What is your opinion?
The world we are living in is without any doubt a modern and civilized one. It is not like the world five hundred years ago, it is not even like the one fifty years ago. Perhaps we - the people who live nowadays, are happier than our ancestors, but perhaps we are not .
The strange thing is that we judge and analyse their world without knowing it and maybe without trying to know it. The only thing that is certain is that the world is changing and it is changing so fast that even we cannot notice it. Sciece has developed to such an extent that it is difficult to believe this can be true. A simple but quite impressive example of this development is the genetic engineering. Scientists have achieved something which was considered impossible and even monstrous before. Probably just in a few years they will be able to create a rational human being. Technology and industrialisation have also developed and in the present moment they do not stop developing. The consumers are overwhelmed by all kinds of products and goods. Technology is everywhere - in the houses, in the streets, in the shopping centers. We cannot run away from it even if we want to .
On the other hand we do need all these new technical products. We can no longer imagine our lives without a TV set or without a telephone. Computer systems like Internet enable us to communicate easy and fast. We are modern people and as modern people we are surrounded by all these things, by all these products of science technology and industry. This is our world. Whether we like it or not we must live in it. But all these inventions and innovations cannot change us - we remain human beings. With or without a washing machine we do not turn into animals. People are capable of adjusting to their environment and to remain humans .
In my opinion, technology cannot change us so much and to make us forget what is to dream and imagine. There is always place for dreaming and imagination in our modern world. If there was not imagination our lives would have been so dull and colourless and everybody would have gone crazy. I do not think that we can live without dreaming. Because if we do not dream we would not have any aims to achieve, we would not see a light in the end of the tunnel of life. It is our imagination that helps us go through the difficult moments in life. For example when your boyfriend leaves you it is such a relief to imagine that you will smash his face the next time you see him .
This is just a small relief but sometimes it helps you to feel better. But imagination helps not only in such cases it helps us to create our own world in our minds. A world where we could go whenever we feel the need to escape from the real one. A world where everything is the way we want it to be, where people are good and love is real. It is a fairy tale where we can go and relax, it is the improved mirror image of reality .
Imagination and dreaming will always have place in our modern or not so modern world .
Without them neither art nor literature will exist. And the fact that they still exist is a proof of the existence of imagination. If it was not for it I would not be able to write this essay, would I?
|
005_BGSU1062.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Some people say that in our modern world, dominated by science, technology and industrialisation, there is no longer a place for dreaming and imagination. What is your opinion?
It is a truth universally acknowledged that our age is the age of machines. Technology, industrialization and communications have developed and are still developing at a very fast rate. It is actually so fast that you find it difficult to keep pace with it. Thus if you buy a computer, for instance, that you are assured is the newest product of the industry at the present moment, you will certainly be surprised to find out in a year's time that what you paid dearly for a year ago constitutes nothing more than a useless heap of junk. In this way the new technologies and innovations which are meant to help man and make things more comfortable, actually reach the point of being rather an unpleasant nuisance. Thus, at a certain point of time you will probably find it much more easy to steer a spaceship than to operate a TV set. It may sound absurd today but in my view could well be the case in near future .
There are things in life, though , that don't change as quickly as that and that even are considered by some ever lasating. Such are the works of art that people have been producing eversince the dawn of human civilization. These works are products of people's imagination and dreaming rather than of rational thinking .
Basically imagination and dreaming are associated with concepts like creativity, freedom of mind and soul whereas practical thinking stands for reason. In my view imagination and dreaming require a simplicity of heart and soul that is to say, mind released from the burden of the artificial, mechanical thinking, which is inevitably imposed by the rich in technologies and computers everyday life. To my mind it's the children that enjoy this freedom of mind and soul today. They are the ones who feel at ease in the world of dreams. Children can see and observe what grown-ups are unable to because only they possess the purity and sharpness of the senses that vanishes once you grow up. How can a mind burdened with reason, scientific explanations and mathematical logic allow itself to dream or imagine. This is in my view impossible because these concepts are too opposite to co-exist .
The computers and technologies that keep on pervading our lives, providing us with ready products, which being useful on the one hand devoid people of the opportunity to think and develop their inventiveness. People become rather one-sided, develop pragmatic thinking and are easily involved in what some call "The rat race" . It is, however dangerous to go on trying to keep pace with the constantly developing science and technology because it might turn out at a certain point of time that man has fallen prey to his own creations .
|
006_BGSU1063.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
There are quite a few people who think that higher education is unnecessary and that there is no point in studying at university. With the technical schools and the gymnasiums being rather popular nowadays most students would consider it enough to complete high school and don't take the trouble to continue studying at a higher level. This phenomenon alone is quite eloquent and understandable too. And one doesn't have to search very hard to reach the conclusion that there are plenty of factors contributing to that unfavorable attitude that people in Bulgaria have towards university education .
Just take a stroll downtown to the marketplace and you'll find why so many people consider university studying useless. There is hardly any person in the world who can convince me that one needs to graduate Nuclear Physics to sell cucumbers or to have a PHD in literature to deliver newspapers. However, if one goes to an average Bulgarian marketplace one is most likely to encounter qualified people doing low-paid unqualified work. I haven't seen any recent statistics but I'm sure that the number of people who work in the field they have specialized in is very low. What is the point then to study when you know you'll end up cleaning lavatories or washing dishes? Naturally these are jobs like any other but you don't normally study all that much to be able to perform them. And knowing that once you graduate you join the long gray queue of young unemployed people is hardly any stimulus for a young person to apply for university .
Unfortunately unemployment is a major threat not only to those who study theoretical matters but to graduates of the technical institutes too. People studying practical things such as engineering unable to find decent jobs is, I'm sure most people would agree, not the rightest of prospects. And thus most of these graduates become frustrated due to the lack of proper occupation and consequently much energy, talent and knowledge is wasted. Then one starts to wonder whether there's any point in studying at all. In the last few years, though, things have changed a bit. As the country shows some signs of improvement in terms of economics and political stability people start to see a light at the end of the tunnel .
|
007_BGSU1071.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C1
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
What is the purpose of education? To provide us with knowledge that, together with our tastes, will help us take the profession that best sorts our abilities. A good university degree should serve as a ' passport ' to decent jobs within the range of one's qualification. All this means that university and real life should be in constant feed back. What we have, though, today is education that often loses track of reality, and degrees that indicate how does one manage on one's exams and with one's papers and thesis. Degrees have nothing to do with our capability for a certain job .
Take, first, the present situation in Bulgaria as a whole. In the period of what we think, and hope, to be a transition to a free-market economy, education gradually lost its position of a primal value in people's lives. In its place came ' free initiative', and a lot of people (including the young) gave themselves to amassing money through trade which often turned out to be nothing mote than a swindle . Aversion from study can be rooted in the fact that while you study, you do not earn money, but only accumulate knowledge and prepare for a future job. The deeper reason, though, must lie in the nature of education itself. The reason, it seems to me, is namely its irrelevance to life. You have to know what you study for, in the first place. In Bulgaria, we know that the moment we graduate we will be confronted by the risk of entering the army of unemployed. Our good diplomas will remain but a record on paper. And even if that does not happen, we are still very likely to take jobs that have nothing to do with what we had studied for. With all that in mind you soon end up asking yourself, ' Why study?'.
If, on the other hand, we take an inside look at the way study is being organised, we will soon notice a certain formula shared between students and lecturers. The time spent at university should prepare students for making well at their exams and, possibly, for writing good papers. Not a thought for students' future appliance. In such situation everyone has to take care of themselves, which not always gives the best of results .
To make the picture more complicated still, universities do not keep record of the demands of society. On many subjects the curricula still need updating, with others the problem is the vast number of students on admission. Very few of them will find job relevant to their study because all the vacancies have already been filled in by students who have graduated a couple of years ago .
The most natural thing for the universities to do would be to keep in touch with all the big and minor companies, all the national institutions, plus various foundations and committees and make a running record of their demands and offers on the one hand, and of students' capacities on the other. Another useful thing to do would be to arrange a system of training courses for students while still in their university. A simile of such system exists today, but it neither provides us with helpful skills nor enables us to make contacts in the sphere we are put in for a while, so that in the future we could be appointed for a certain position should we be approved. In the sphere of languages, for example, these courses offer you only the option of ' training ' yourself for a teacher (as if a specialist in English or German or any other language and literature can do nothing else!).
I do not know how things are in the sphere of law (one of the trendiest subjects nowadays, together with economics and a few more), but I cannot believe that students there have much wider range of opportunities to choose from .
Universities are not the only to blame. The whole arrangement (or rather disarrangement of our society is such that some very important links are missing - either cut or not yet woven into the new network. Thus, what we need is a through and complete reform both inside the educational system and outside, in the society. It involves a hard work to do, but the result may prove worth the efforts so that one day we could claim to have put into practice the Latin proverb ' We study for life ' not for study itself"!
|
008_BGSU1074.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C1
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Some people say that in our modern world, dominated by science, technology and industrialisation, there is no longer a place for dreaming and imagination. What is your opinion?
It is a fact that even well-educated people find themselves in a state of bewilderment at the mere thought of the speed in which technologies are revolutionizing the world. and no wonder, for I doubt it that there is anyone who hasn't been plagued with this feeling of uncertainty. It is, therefore, only natural that the effect of the so-called technological threat be exaggerated .
Obviously, if we are to avoid the hazard of falling into much extremes we need to find reasonable answers to the following questions: why is this negativistic attitude against technologies taking place ' how can analogical events in the past help us evaluate the present situation; why are not technologies overpowering the human mind; why are people afraid of the technological advent .
If we are to assume that technological progress and human imagination are two irreconcilable things, then we would imminently affiliate ourselves to the Romantic conceptions or even the Luddite attitude. This rage-against-the-machine phenomenon is on a par with primitive myth - making. Moreover, the trends which trigger this kind of attitude can even be traced back to a cheap horror story. Why? The answer here is fear - fear of the unknown. Just like Medusa in the myths of the ancient Greeks, the embodiment of ultimate evil, or even the gruesome monster in Bram Stoner's novel. These two examples both lead us to one and the same conclusion. People tend to generalize their fear in a flat black-and-white image. This also holds true for the stereotypes that have been built up to sum up the three-dimensional technological reality into a distorted one-dimensional concept. And what happens if this image is reduced to a terrifyingly intelligent machine which lurks the infinite paths of the informational highway? From this starting point it is not hard to jump to the conclusion that technologies may impair our mental abilities .
People are afraid of technological progress and claim that this threatens the human faculty. This is ludicrous, just as ludicrous as the primitive aggression of the Luddites on 19th century machinery. They believed that the machines are responsible for unemployment. Others believe that technology threatens to overpower their imagination. Unemployment than was due to mass migration to the cites. Deficiency of thought and lack of imagination is due to entirely personal characteristics .
As it was stated before, people are afraid of the unknown. It isn't hard for the half-informed to see a horrifying image of the near technologically wise future. But to think of a future world where machines are the decision-makers, where humans are reduced to mere walking extensions can hardly be acceptable with no amount of reasonable doubt. The reason why this can hardly be anticipated is the fact that the human mind is irreplaceable. It cannot become the author of its own creation. Whatever marvelous machinery is to be invented in the future, it will always be a byproduct inferior to the capacity of human imagination. What is more, imagination itself is so tightly intermingled with emotions that sometimes no distinct borderline can be drawn between the two. And emotions are often too subtle to be felt, let alone created .
People are sceptical about new technology because they are not equipped with the necessary knowledge to handle it. Being informed helps you avoid potential threats in using any technology, whether it be household appliances or sophisticated virtual reality products. This is analogous to driving a car wit or without a driving permit. Therefore, it is not knowing the rules of these man - made "tools" that is the cause for alarm. And a tool is simply a utility. It does not threaten to replace one's imagination. On the contrary, it helps both mind and imagination along the tortuous path of perfection .
Indeed, one must always have a "luddite" within him and not take things for granted. This is so, because like any revolution, the technological one has its aftermath. And it can be disasterous if the necessary precautions are not undertaken. But does that mean we have to shut our eyes to the blatant thruth and pretend that technologies do not exist? Besides, we have many other things to fear. You only have to turn on the eight o'clock news...
|
009_BGSU1088.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C1
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
Most people go to university to prepare themselves for a future career or at least because they are interested in a particular area of study. To become specialists they need an academic education and in this sense the university is the only means by which they can achieve their goal .
In my opinion the degree they receive is essential for their future career .
Of course, the knowledge students have acquired should be put into practice after graduation. At this point some find out that their expectations do not match with the real world .
However, one should not rely entirely on the degree to cope with the situation. Experimenting, practice, learning from one's own mistakes is needed to suceed on the working place. These are things that one discovers for oneself and that cannot be taught. There is not such a degree which can fully prepare us for life. The best of educations will not help a person succeed if he or she is uncooperative but has to work in group. The degree is the background we need but it is us who have to learn how to cope with reality. That is why I think that university degrees are far from being worthless .
There are majors that can be called "more theoretical" than others. For example, studying Philosophy or History means studying mainly theory while Medicine involves a lot of practice. For some areas of study practice is much more important than in others and that is why we should not expect the same ratio practice:theory in each field. Moreover, the theoretical fields prepare students for the real world in a different way. By encouraging them to think critically, organise and express their thoughts orally or in written form, make comparisons and associations, use logic or imagination, they prepare them not only for their career but also for life as a whole. Those are qualities which are essential for managing even in the most difficult situations .
Many majors produce mainly teachers, lecturers, writers or just theoreticians. For these professions practice, too, is needed but a deep knowledge of theory is essential .
On the other hand, practical excercise is crucial for other fields of study like Performing Arts, Fine and Applied Arts, Dentistry, Computer Programming etc. There is no doubt that after graduation, a student in one of these fields will be well prepared for his or her future work .
However, even those majors can not do without theory. For medical students, for example, theoretical knowledge is no less important than practical skills .
The value of university degrees is not in their being theoretical or practical. In one way or another every academic education will help a student to cope better with the real life. The most important thing is that the graduates are good specialists in their field and intelligent, independly thinking, self-confident human beings .
|
010_BGSU1139.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
Every intelligent young person dreams to graduate from the university one day. It seems to be the highest goal in most of the young people's lives. They do anything possible to become suitable applicants to a certain university. On the one hand the troubles they take are reasonable - after graduating you have more possibilities for a career; there are quite a lot of roads you can choose to walk along. You can even choose whether to walk or run. On the other hand, the things you study, especially here, in Bulgaria are so far away from reality that sometimes you forget what exactly your subject is .
Although it might sound too sophisticated, the University as an institution is a dream .
Before having the chance to be part of it your imagination makes it look like a dome. You fascinate about just teachers and friends; you dream of the hundreds tones of knowledge you are to get there but when the last thrill about you being a part of the Great Dome is gone, you feel as if you are on an entirely different planet. What is more - and entirely different HOSTILE planet .
Anyway, you suppose there is a kind of mistake... And you keep on hoping. Until one day you forget the subject you are studying. There are so many courses you have to take that there is no time left for the ones you like. You do not have time to read a single book, you do not have time to do your homework... But who cares! You have chosen to be there and dropping out is out of the question. But you keep on struggling. You fight for the right to learn. I, myself was extremely excited last year, when I was a First year student; on the one hand I was totally ruined physically and psychologically by everything I had to do, on the other hand I was absolutely pleased with the things I learned. This year I am able to see that most of the courses we have to take are so far away from reality, from anything that could happen to us, that I start to get amazed .
Everything is so theoretical and unintelligible that I have, subconsciously, begun to think of transferring to another university. But I know that this wouldn't change anything. There is no chance. There is no hope. The situation is the same in the universities all over the country. You get so much information, you loose so much of your time that after five years you feel like an old person - you remember things and faces but almost nothing from the nearly fifty exams you have passed because the information you have got has nothing to do with everyday life .
Anyway, you graduate as a specialist. But it turns out that you are an expert only according to he documents. Otherwise it is all the same as if you have not spent these five years in the Dome. You have learnt everything by heart; you know how it works but you cannot make it work, you cannot turn it on. Nothing has been said about turning on in the textbooks and grammars...
Despite everything I do not think that it is not worth studying in the University. On the contrary, you learn and become better informed but I believe that it would be much better if students had the chance to study real things and to get better-prepared for the real life and the real problems they will face after graduating .
|
011_BGSU1143.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
I agree to a great extent with this statement and, especially with the part preceding the comma. I can talk, of course, out of personal experience most objectively but I think I can express as well the feelings of many students from other fields. These are people I have talked to about this partucular subject thus I have gathered their opinion .
Just before coming back home I met a friend of mine who after hearing I had to write this essay offered his assistance by giving me some ideas. He is a "freshly-cut" graduate from the University of Architecture in Sofia. What he said was that the topic of my essay was very precise in its determining the problem of their education. They studied piles of most probably useless information and data but did very little on the practical level. They did not attend the actual planning of a new building, park, stadium etc .
Another major problem this friend pointed out was the lack of updating students with the technological progress in the particular field of study or work. He says that now that he has graduated he has taken up a course in computers. At university, instead of using ready-made packets of computer programmes especially devised for the utilization of the architect's work, they studied programming which once again is obviously useless. Nobody is giong to create his own programme .
In the field of ceramics, for example, the problems are serious. The students' time is occupied by theoretical courses such as technology of clay, perspective, aesthetics, etc. but nobody teaches the students how to use the pottery wheel and how to whet on it. They are not taught either how to draw the different types of patterns that decorate the dishes .
In our department problems are similar. Instead of having as many contacts with native speakers as possible we take theoretical courses in syntax, semantics, morphology etc. We don't know how to use the vast number of English teaching computer programmes. We don't use any TV or VCR equipment to aid our education. To make the course more practical we could also increase the number of translation classes .
To sum up then problems seem to be quite the same in the different field of the higher education. To make the study more useful a balance should be reached where we are given just the necessary and important theory, thus leaving space and time for practical courses which prepare us for the actual face of the profession that we are to be confronted with in our "working future".
|
012_BGSU1183.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In his novel 'Animal Farm' George Orwell wrote 'All men are equal but some are more equal than others'. How true is this today?
Finance in our modern world plays the greatest role of all. As a matter of fact it deserves an Oscar for its performance so far. It reigns over all aspects of human life and society - money has become a vital part of our existence and we need it as desperately as we need air to breathe and sun and water to support our living .
The famous quotation: "Money makes the world go round!" sums up as briefly and accurately as possible the essence of human society today. A plain and well-known fact is that people are obsessed with money and this is no longer considered a mental disease as other obsession are but the normal state of human affairs. In the society that we have built our life depends wholly on the money - if you have it you will be well-off and you'll live, if you don't then you can expect only the worst .
So, logically here comes the question why some people have more money than others and there are such that have no money at all. It is not an easy question to answer but if we take the title to be the most justified answer that we can safely conclude that there is something very wrong in our society. In fact there is, it is exactly this unequality of rights and possibilities which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer .
Probably the decision of this problem must be careful and exact application of the title of this essay but then it appears quite difficult to estimate someone's contribution to society. This is such a subjective issue that it is almost impossible for extremely subjective creatures as ourselves to accomplish the task. If we manage to do this then all our problems will be solved .
Equality as a social issue has been one of the major problems in the human society for centuries .
Since the dawn of civilization, the human society has been structured and divided into levels, ranks, classes or whatever one likes to name them. And since then the struggle for equality has never seized .
But what exactly is equality and how has it been treated through time?
In the past centuries equality was understood more or less in terms of wealth and nobility. There were rich and poor, noble and ordinary people. Society was divided into classes and one was considered equal only toe the people belonging to the same class .
Nowadays, things inevitably have changed. Our society is still divided into classes although many people deny that. Moreover, more divisions have been made in terms of religion, sexuality and so on. However, people feel more equal than ever before. Not only because the gaps between the classes have become smaller but because today equality is a state of mind .
Today, the first part of Orwell's statement "All men are equal" is the basis of many constitutions and declarations for the human rights and all politicians claim that people are equal because they have been given equal opportunities to succeed in life. Perhaps there's some truth in that .
Perhaps today it is not so important who you are, where you come from, how rich you fee. It is what is in your mind that counts, not in your pocket .
However, there are people who cannot "feel equal and think equally". The paradox here is that the problem is not in their mind but in their pocket. Because in our money-driven world it is extremely hard to live, exist even, let alone think and feel. Many poor people are bound to struggle for their living and does not consider themselves equal in any way to a rich businessman, for example. It is not that they cannot think and feel, they are stupid or insane but because they are mentally suppressed by the injustice of their life. In this sense, Orwell's statement is still true today. Some people are more equal then others because they have or are given the ability to feel so. Perhaps, it is trues in milder terms but let's hope we will be able to change that .
|
013_BGSU1184.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In his novel 'Animal Farm' George Orwell wrote 'All men are equal but some are more equal than others'. How true is this today?
Once the American president John Kennedy said something about the issue which will be discussed in this essay. His point was that one should not ask what the United Stated can do for them but what they can do for the United States. So, in the ideal situation one should contribute to the society they live in without expecting any reward at all. But as far as anyone has financial obligations, such as bills, rents, taxes, etc. this idea cannot be applied in real life. Besides, there is no living creature, at least not a human being, who can be made to work without and reward, whether it is financial or of some other kind. Of course, when stating this we should say that it refers to the present only it was not so long ago when slavery existed. Yet, slaves were at least given food, so even they got some kind of stimulation .
From the things mentioned above a very obvious conclusion can be drawn that in order to meet their needs people go to work and get a certain financial reward for the job they do. But here arises the more important issue of how much exactly should a person get for his or her contribution to society, or in other words who contributes more to society? Doctors or businessmen? At first sight it is clear that doctors should get the highest financial reward because there is no need to question their contribution to society, at all. But it is common knowledge that businessmen earn a lot more than doctors. However, this fact can be easily explained .
Businessmen are not paid by somebody else for their job. That is, they hind of personal reward themselves, so that is not a good example of fair distribution of remuneration. If we go back to the doctors again, it turns out that in some countries, particularly those of Eastern Europe, they get even less than skilled manual workers, whose job is not of primary importance to society but who work in the private sector, so if everything works right (which is often not the case in Bulgaria) the more they produce, the more they are likely to get as a financial reward. So, it turns out that the meaning of the word "contribution" has to be redefined for every particular society .
In addition, I would like to mention two more burning issues: pensions and women's payment, including child benefits. People who are retired evidently do not contribute much to the society, however they have done so far the most part of their lives and in my opinion, although they do not have the needs of a young person, they still deserve an honourable place in society. When mentioning women I mean that in some countries they are not equally paid with men even though they do exactly the same job. Besides, how can one estimate the contribution of a mother by paying her child benefits which are not enough even for a pair of baby's shoes .
To conclude with, people's financial reward is often not commensurate with their contribution to society. However, there was one tiny bit in the statement discussed. It says "the society they live in". So, it is not their fault if they live in the wrong society, that fails to provide them with what they really deserve .
|
014_BGSU1187.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In his novel 'Animal Farm' George Orwell wrote 'All men are equal but some are more equal than others'. How true is this today?
Before going into discussion of the topic it might be better to specify what exactly ' equal ' mean .
What do people understand by the word ' equal'? And by giving a clear definition it would than be easier to explain what we think about the statement and how true this is nowadays .
We live in a free country where you have the right to have your own point of view, to share your ideas with no fear what so ever. Therefore, even the meaning of a simple word requires your own opinion which varies from one person to another .
When we talk about people being "equal" what I personally imply in the meaning is that all people deserve the same rights as each other; they should have the same status; there should be no class division. But does this reality hold true today? To my opinion, the answer is ' no'. it is true hat we are all born equal, but what happens to us afterwords. Our lives take different directions, some live in luxury while others are on the other side of the line, wondering how to make it until the next day. The sad think is that if you are wealthy enough you can achieve all your goals although you may not deserve it. But if you are poor, if you cannot satisfy your needs no matter that you are clever you cannot develop as a person. You cannot achieve any progress in your life .
On the other hand, men can be equal but only before God and the law. God created us all the same and one day when our turn to stand before him comes he should than regard us a s equal .
No-one knows weather this is true or not but at least that is what the Bible teaches us .
"We are all equal before the law". The law is the same for everyone. But again if we stop and think more carefully about this statement we may spot certain gaps. Nowadays, we have witnessed how people who really deserve to be punished get away with it, and this arises yet another question: Is Temida blind? So, how can we say that all men are equal at all?
As I previously said to be equal people should be treated the same way with no exeptions what's so ever. But today there is no evidence in favour of this statement. I have tried to find even one but again, as it always happens, there is an exeption for everything. We have lived with that so far and we will continue this way as long as the world exists .
|
015_BGSU1234.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
If we are to consider the practical application of the knowledge one has gained during one's years in university, the first think that we must consider is the career one has chosen. If this career has to do with scientific research or the profession of a teacher (no matter whether it is a school or university teacher) then the preparation universities offer might be of considerable help .
Otherwise university education does not, as a rule, make young people flexible when it comes to their professional realization .
Although university education tries to give a wither perspective in certain areas of the achievements of human thought and culture, it very often fails to provide suggestions as to how the information received may be used by the individual. In other words, students are sometimes too much preoccupied with what other people have thought or said without being given the chance to assist themselves in the complex system of human experience, although they too take an active part in a constant recycling of information. If at least a small part of what is thought at university does not coincide with a student's personal beliefs, then we come to the question whether we need university education at all .
Another aspect of university education, which sometimes terrified students very much, is suggested by the saying "The more I learn, the less I know. In fact this really is the case when it comes to learning: there appear more and more interesting, or important things, which seem to demand close attention and sometimes students feel lost in this flow of interconnected details .
Such on abundance does have its influence on personal motivation and most often this influence is negative .
Thus we come to considering the role of the teacher which is closely related to the curriculum in terms of focus on different aspects of the disciplines thought. Although students at universities are not little children, they still may be very strongly impressed and even influenced by someone else. An important thing teachers must not forget is that students are individuals and personalities on their own and what both teachers and students should have in mind when it comes to communication is mutual respect. In my opinion, a very important thing about the process of education is the atmosphere of cooperation which is closely connected with overcoming certain difficulties (together) on the way of reaching s set goal. If teachers themselves are not convinced that what they do is what they want, or at least what should be done, then students cannot be convinced and motivated at all. Thus the years spent in university become a mere waste of tine and students are not given any idea of their own importance and potentials when it comes to intellectual achievements or just the satisfaction of a well-done job .
Actually, what makes university education of little value is not only the curriculum, but also the fact that students seldom get the right perspective of viewing the world in its complexity, no matter whether on the base of technical disciplines or the humanities .
|
016_BGSU1243.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In his novel 'Animal Farm' George Orwell wrote 'All men are equal but some are more equal than others'. How true is this today?
The question of equal opportunities for all has been very topical over the last few decades in the West, and the problem is beginning to gain momentum in our own country nowadays. Yet, it is interesting to note that the movement started in the USA as a backlash against the century-long oppression of the blacks. Which leads one to certain speculations - whether it is possible at all for everyone to have equal opportunities or this is just the next product of American hypocrisy and utopian thinking. In my humble opinion, the latter is the case - because people are not born equal and they are not raised in the same way, the result being that everyone is unique, and different from all the rest. And if equal opportunity be given to everyone, that would mean propping up the less competent and restricting the more able .
If we start from the very beginning and go as far back as birth, it would perhaps be less obvious that people are unique. And yet, however alike babies might look, they are never the same. As crude as it may sound, their genetic material is different, and that's a major part of who you are .
After all, your genes predetermine most of your future "parameters" such as potential looks, potential IQ, potential health and what not .
Then, who you become very much depends on your parents and the choices they make - who they are and what connections they have, how they bring you up and what opportunities they give you in terms of social environment, schooling, health care and so on. As a result, even identical twins are not the same person although they have the same genes. The uniqueness of everyone is not a racist or Faschist idea as some claim, it is a fact. And it stands to reason that you don't provide the same opportunities to people with different abilities. Race and nationality would seem to be excluded from the list, at least it would be logical, but experience show a different thing .
While it is only sensible to discriminate against people who are incompetent - because if you need an employee or a partner in business then they have to be the right person and quality for the position - it is only a prejudice to discriminate against people, or groups of people as it might be, on the basis of race or nationality. And however illogical this is, we know that the West, and the States in particular do that all the time, although they wouldn't admit it openly .
It seems to me that the most striking example of this is what happens in the admission offices of their colleges - though very few would actually say so, most of them have quotas for racial groups and for international students. Then, there are special scholar-ships awarded to minority groups - and that's discrimination as obvious as anything, only this time it is against the white people. And there's thousands things like this, official and everything, although contrary to the general appeal for equal opportunities .
So I would ask these American gentlemen if they would please keep their hypocrisy to themselves. I'd give discrimination the thumbs up, but only as long as it is based on sensible criteria, that are actually relevant, and not on things like I'm black, you are white. I'm tall and you're short, I'm American and you're a Pole. These are a part of who we are, but it's important that we order our priorities and judge people on the relevant points .
|
018_BGSU1259.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most University degrees are theoretical and do not prepare us for the real life. Do you agree or disagree?
Imagine yourself not taking an university degree. What will your future be like? Working as a shop assistant, a taxi driver or ...? I wonder if this will make you feel satisfied .
So what? As it turns out, you're left with very little choice indeed? That is why you go to university, spend another four or five years of your life there - and then you are ready to come face to face with life that crushes and smashes. For most people nowadays tend to look on university degrees as the stepping-stone to success. What you study is not so important. Nor what you get. What matters in this case is the diploma - the precious leaflet that is believed to be the key of many locked doors. Is it really so?
Reality tells a different story. During the years one spend at the University, one really learns a lot .
It is true that most of the time you've got the feeling that your head is constantly being filled up with heaps of useless information. It is also true that you spend many a sleepless night in desperate attempts to somehow absorb all this stuff - to cram it into your brain just for the sake of the exam, and the moment the exam is over, forget all about it. This is definitely a crack in the system, you must confess. It would undoubtedly be better of students were somehow made to study throughout the year - not just at the end of it, when session begins to haunt their dreams .
But such changes are a matter of years .
And here comes the question: what dos the university give you and what does it take? No doubt it takes a lot - maybe more that it gives. Your free time, your freedom and carelessness. And in a way it robs you of your previous self. Slowly but inexorably you change. You grow up to take responsibilities, to realize who you are, what you want from life and how to achieve it. And this is not little at all. It is not only due to the university, it is up to you above all. But it can not be denied that the university too is a major factor in this process of self-development .
As far the theoretical side - well, it is always there. And perhaps it will always be. And still you can really learn a lot from a single exam only - provided you know what to take and how to take it. What is more important is that during all these years of studying, taking exams and so on - you become mature - and ready to face life. The real life .
|
019_BGSU1291.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In his novel 'Animal Farm' George Orwell wrote 'All men are equal but some are more equal than others'. How true is this today?
When God made the human race he made all the humans equal, Equal in their possessions, minds, absolutely everything. But I guess that when God mixed the mixture he put a wrong ingredient too without noticing. And it spoiled everything, it transformed into a flow of the first men. Then he condemned us and it was inherited by the following generations .
As a whole we the humans are a cursed race. It is deeply rooted in us to kill, to steal, to lie .
Sooner or later it all comes out. We've been living on that planet for thousands of years now but there are certain things which will never change. One of them is the evil rooted in us. George Orwell was right because he was writing what he was seeing, he was writing reality. The present time is not much different from the time before two hundred years for instance. The bad people have always been bad and the good people have always been at the bottom. This is mostly true today in the 21st century when the driving force behind every person is the personal success at the expense of the others. Well, almost every person. The people who think only of their wealth think they are something more than the others, they think they can do whatever they want - these are the people we call "more equal".
Orwell's comparison of humans to animals is perfectly adequate. Because what are we? We are claimed to be the highest animal kind. Like them we are often guided by the instinct of self - preservation which makes us do bad things to others. Makes us neglect others, betray them, hurt them. When we follow that instinct we are blind for everything else but our survival. Another reason that makes people think they are "special" is money. Yes, the powerful money. They can put a man high in the clouds and block his common sense. When a person has money they think that the world is their, that it belongs to them. And what happens when they get a lot of money?
They become the world's best creatures. And want more and more money, this is loftiness and arrogance come from, from their sense of superiority and importance .
Yet another reason would be if a person has a right social position. For instance, a congressman, a TV journalist, a rich banker. They watch people from above. The "special", "more equal people" are everywhere, there isn't a certain place where they could be found, they are all around us. Of course, there are people who don't have any basis for their arrogance and "speciality".
Yes, Orwell couldn't has been more right than. People are cruel, they kill each other, they destroy their lives. And this is because one thinks that is more than the others. it's hard time we live in and everyone tries to play their role in this life neglecting the others .
|
020_BGSU1299.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In his novel 'Animal Farm' George Orwell wrote 'All men are equal but some are more equal than others'. How true is this today?
All men are equal. It is presumed that God made them so. Still all throughout the history of his species man have fought for equality. It has turned out that indeed some men are more equal than others. at least socially. And that is quite naturally .
All men cannot be equal. Each one of us is born with different capacity of mind and heart, at different places, under different conditions. Some have more wits or are more open-hearted than others, some have loving parents and a happy childhood, others do not. Some were born with a certain position in society which have secured them better opportunities for education, professional realization, personal or social success, for achieving their goals. Some were handicapped by the conditions of life under which they were born from their first breath of air to the last beat of their heart, entangled in a cruel reality, fighting for every piece of bread in order to keep living just to be able to go on fighting .
Some like their inherited position of life, others do not. Some conform it, others rebel. Some fight for equality, others for a higher status to be more equal than the others .
All men cannot be equal. Not each of us want to have the same conditions of life, opportunities or privileges as the others, some want better ones. Some want to be rich. The some money from the rich, give it to the poor and then we all shall be equal and happy. But there will always be someone who will wish to have more money, to be more equal .
Some want to have social power. Give more civil rights to the oppressed, restrict the influence of the powerful and we again shall be equal. But shall we be powerful? Over what and, most of all, over whom shall we exert our power? Here comes the need of unequality. There have to be oppressed to make the others feel powerful. Moreover, being influential and having power is not easy as it seems .
All men cannot be equal. That is just an utopia. A beautiful dream cherished in the hearts of generations of men throughout the centuries. Our life is based on inequality. Society, even nature is based on inequality. Some say that life is a jungle. In the jungle one cannot afford themselves to be weak and unfit. If one is not strong enough, they simply perish. The stronger need the weaker to live on them. It is the best that survive. The most equal one. There should be death to secure life. There is life owing to inequality. Inequality produces the fittest, the ones who survive .
It makes the world turn and the social system work .
Inequality is recognized and accepted by men. What else is the evolutionary theory about the survival of the fittest than a rejection of equality. If all were equal who would have survived.? All of us?
Still men are fighting for equality. The idea of it lies in the foundation of one of the most powerful social ideologies - socialism. And its realization proved that even among equal there are some that are more equal. It is inevitable .
|
021_BRFF1068.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Feminists have done more harm to the cause of women than good
The society we live in establish patterns which well-succeed people should follow, otherwise they seem impossible to reach. People have to work, to study, to go to the supermarket, to pay the bills and at the same time, they have to be the most efficacious professional, the kindest parents, the most regardful spouse and so on. Moreover, all these stuff has to be often changed, updated and renewed. For women, these obligations can be a little more stressful. In the past, women could fulfill all professional requirements when they got to the market. In some cases, as they were considered inferior, these new workers had to be better than the average. Unfortunately, prejudice brought this behavior to current days. Nowadays, .many women have shown a unbelievable efficiency in order to keep their posts, especially the chief posts. Moreover the conquer of the right of having a carrier did not liberated women from the housewifery duties. These unrewarded job can be as tiring as their profession or even more than it. As a soften policy to ease up all these pressure, the Brazilian government allows women retire five years before man .
Despite of all these efforts, another question comes up: the woman's role in kids education. Many kids are brought up currently without constant presence of their parents. Absence in fathers case is acceptable because most of the fathers role is to provide family. However there is a belief in which the absence of the mother could be harmful for children. Mothers absence should not be connected to lack of affection. Carrier does not overcome mothers role therefore, it does not destroy the link between mother and child. Even because only the quality of the free time both spend together can measure the strength of this link. In many cases, this is a really hard chore, because lots of women have to provide their kids by themselves. In fact, what is really harmful for kids is lack of attention from mother and from father due to their unsubstitutable role in growth and education .
Beliefs like these are part of a great range of concepts which comes in and goes out throughout minds that constitute our society. Sexism is a kind of prejudice which is neither too weak to be ignored nor too strong to complaint about it. Prejudice does not favor women or men, both just have to deal with the limitations it puts in their lives. Thus, female behavior and beauty patterns, that are practically impossible to follow, are everywhere. Maybe, nobody can get rid of the judgements that can be made based on them. They can make a woman lose her job, her marriage and sometimes, her health if she did not fit in the exigencies of these patterns, which demands on extreme beauty and eternal youth. Thus far, to things can happen: some women just get depressed while others submit themselves to plastic surgeries, treatments, diets that not rarely put their health in danger. Everything in order to follow an unwise pattern of beauty and behavior .
Probably, women obey these patterns lead by the education they received before, which sometimes sustain focus on obeying and submission. Young girls growth is plot in a imaginary world in does not incentive the development of decisions or the ways to solve problems. They are just made to believe the charming prince will come and save the princess then all problems are solved. At the same time, boys are brought up with different point of views, such as make decisions and take the control of the situation. Notwithstanding the fact that nowadays, kids are having more wise kinds of education a lot of concepts about education related to boys and girls should be revised .
An individual item that really deserves to be revised are the laws related to abortion in Brazil. Illegal and bad-succeed abortion is related to the main cause of dying of poor women in the northern state of Bahia. In So Paulo it takes the third place. The Brazilian health system and laws gives a woman all the support if she wants to get pregnant and have this baby. However, if she does not want have this baby due to a great range of reasons, her rights just end up left in the lurch. Then, she might apply herself to become part of the figures shown before .
The presented until this point just try to elicit that if female conquers have started to do harm, some of them ought to be revised, renewed or updated. And It also must to be realized that lots of these conquers are not enough anymore .
|
022_BRMG1110.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C1
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Some people say that in our modern world, dominated by science, technology and industrialisation, there is no longer a place for dreaming and imagination. What is your opinion?
This issue carries an important meaning if we consider that dreaming and imagination are embodied in human nature. There are different opinions about it, for example, some people think that technology has improved our imagination. This essay will consider that dreaming and imagination have decreased in front of the advance of technology and industrialization and therefore our skills related to those aspects have been damaged .
Dreaming carries a great deal of importance in human nature. If we consider that technology and industrialization have reduced our power of dreaming, we can say that our nature has been damaged. Dreaming is concerning more about the future than about the past and that is why human nature has lost most of its creative power. Without dreaming there is no prospect of future, and then people live just for the present, clung to the boundaries of a world without dreams. And dreams play an indispensable role in our lives, since they give us reasons for living and fighting for our plans. Furthermore, dreaming teaches us to be resolute in our actions, to pursue our objectives .
When it concerns imagination, technology and industrialization have decreased this power belonged to the human nature. Nowadays we have on the Internet everything we need without any effort; this fact contributes to the self-indulgence and to the shortage of imagination. People nowadays do not need to be creative since they have at hand everything. Instead of creating things, they look for on the Internet .
Both dreaming and imagination have an important role in our lives, they go together well and increase our power to create and improve things. Without them human nature is limited to works already done, leaving no room for creation. We need them, inasmuch as we need to be creative in the work environment; there is no success without the effort to bring into light new ideas and dreams. And once technology and industrialization have reduced our power to do things by ourselves, we can consider that, beyond the benefits which both of them have brought to humanity, they have as well brought damages. The capacity of dreaming has been reduced, the power of imagination has been trimmed. The losses with the advent of technology and industrialization play out in full view of humanity. We live on technology and industrialization, not leaving room for dreamers and creators .
In conclusion, if it is true that technology and industrialization have brought benefits to humanity, it is also true that both of them have brought jeopardies which have limited the human nature, i.e., we are losing our power of dreaming and our capacity for imagination. The consequences can be dangerous, since we have people focused on the present without caring about their future, since we have people with the power of imagination reduced, losing thus their ability to create things. We live nowadays on the edge of human nature, we need to be conscious of what damages technology and industrialization have brought to us in order to improve ourselves and shun a collapse in our nature .
|
023_BRMG1116.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C1
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most university degrees are theoretical and do not prepare students for the real world. They are therefore of very little value.
Going to university is most peoples dream and they rely on this opportunity to get a great job and to be well succeeded in their professional lives. At first, there is the dilemma of choosing the right career. After a long and hard way, the course is chosen, but the university is not. Then it is time to select the university among a range of options. When this is done, the next step is to study as hard as someone can to do the entrance examinations. Unfortunately, after all this effort, the student can get frustrated when the university does not live up to his expectations. It usually happens not only because of a badly structured pedagogical plan, but also because of the lack of opportunities to get experience before graduating .
The excitement of going to college makes the student feels full of energy to start learning about everything. He attends seminars, takes part in special projects, and spends lots of time in the library. But, after some time, he finds that some difficult and essential subjects were very superficially studied, whereas a lot of time was spent on less complex topics. A deeper analysis of specific contents would make him more familiar with the field. In addition to this defective time management, it is also common to conclude at the end of the course that if some subjects had been studied before others, it would have been easier to learn the whole thing. The order the subjects are taken interferes the way the student learn. An effective pedagogical plan is crucial to have a god quality learning process .
If a bad academic structure is combined with no opportunities for real practice, things can get even worse. When a student keeps studying, but there is no chance to see in loco how things really work, it will probably be very difficult for him to become a good professional. By the time a student finishes college, he must be ready, at least, to perform fundamental practices of his occupation. Otherwise he will be an intern with a college degree for a long time before getting more confident. Every student must have opportunities to deal with real situations in a daily basis, especially from the second half of the course on .
It is known that a lot of renowned universities have helped hundreds of thousands of students to develop their knowledge and become excellent professionals. However, on the other hand, it is also possible to find poorly structured universities that keep on forming professionals who are not well prepared for the market force due to too much theory and too little practice. Students spend their time, money and energy in a four, five or even six-year course in order to get a good job and keep on improving their skills. Thus, there should be a very rigorous government inspection to guarantee a minimum level of excellence in education, so that there would not be a great difference in terms of knowledge and practice when comparing graduates from different educational institutions .
|
024_BRMG1119.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most university degrees are theoretical and do not prepare students for the real world. They are therefore of very little value.
Most university degrees are theorical and do not prepare students for the real world. They are therefore of very little value .
I think that there are a lot of universities that don't make the necessary role that is to prepare the profissional to enter to job market. The students begin in the school with a dream. They believe that they will go out the school with a profession and they will gain a lot of much money .
Sometimes, the parents will not buy important things to their family to put their sons in the better schools. They believe that the study would be the solution to all problems. Sometimes the student can stay disappointed. Unfortunatelly, we live in a society where a lot of people still think that the certificate is more important than all others things in the life. I don't think that the study is not important but I think that it is not vital .
Today, there are a lot of Universities graduating people, but there are not enough work to every these people. The graduation will not help people to get a work. There are a lot of people that know how to embroider, to sew, people that work in the field planting our food. There are millions of people that know to do many kinds of works that are very important to our life even not being in the universities curriculum .
without never have been in a university. But, as long as the certificate more important, these people don't have the value that they deserve .
The teacher besides not being valorized, is still a good example of how the learning university is rather theorical. When we go out the school, we think that we are ready to teach our students. We think that it will be easy because we are profissional, we have our certificate .
But the frustration is big, when we begining our work. We are alone in front of the class with fourty different pupils. Each one with different personality, different knowledge. This moment, you realize that we don't know to do this. Which procedure take? The university don't teach us what to do in front of situations that will appear. Each situation is unique and we have to be resolved. This situation could happen in all jobs, because surprises always happen and especially when we work with humans .
In the university we have opportunity to learn some subjects as Methodology, Sociology, Psychology that can help us to live better together with other people and to do a new graduation in future. The university can offer us a base and a part of knowledge, but is necessary we will continue to learn a few more every day and we will adquire the experience only with time .
But we can not say that the university certificate is not important. Despite the university do not prepare us for the real world, it can help us . I think that depend of us. If we will have interest in learningand work it is sure that we can be excellent profissionals .
|
025_BRMG1120.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most university degrees are theoretical and do not prepare students for the real world. They are therefore of very little value.
Which person has not seen another one acting inappropriately in his or her professional area? It is very common to see professionals doing wrong things in their jobs, although these people have studied in university courses. Getting a degree in most of the universities .
does not mean a person has learnt everything necessary about how to act and work in the real world .
In the educational area, for instance, it might be said that each student should give their best to get as much as possible from the academic world he or she is into. Many people claim there are different kinds of students and for that reason there are different types of professionals. It is claimed that some students are more interesting in learning; other ones simply have a medium development throughout the under-graduation period. However, even the best student of a class may not have everything he or she needs to put the abilities learnt inside class into practice if the university chosen by that student is not qualified enough. It is possible to see some teachers, or even professors, who do not have any didactics at all. Even though they have got a teaching degree, and have also had teaching method classes, their way of teaching seems not to match the students way of learning. Some universities, who form these teachers or professors, are not capable of offering a good quality teaching course. They do not research enough; neither they are open to the modern discoveries about different didactics .
It can be stated that the practical experience is only gotten through a lot of years in one specific profession. However, universities should be the places where real life is reproduced. Still making use of the same example, the courses involving teaching degrees, should consider, for instance, amid many other issues, the inclusion of people with audio disabilities. Unfortunately, many universities are not taking them into consideration. An under-graduate student may learn how to teach, however he or she might not learn the sign language, neither might they learn about the importance of having this minority of people in the same class as people who are able to hear normally. And when these students graduate and face real world in schools, they are not prepared to treat these special people. And this is not something one can get only through professional experience. Actually, before having had any contact with a def student, a teacher should be ready to work, knowing how to deal with the necessities of his or her special student .
In conclusion, there are few universities that can really prepare students for the real life of society needs. As it is difficult to change institutions like a university, a student should realize the importance of his or her graduation according to real world, and chose the best universities to ingress. The educational area is a good parameter to notice that even if a person has got a degree in a university, it is not enough for him or her to be prepared to face the practical world of the professional chosen by him or her. But if there were a bigger involvement between theoretical and practical world, it should reach all types of courses in the universities .
|
026_BRMG1279.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In the words of the old song: 'Money is the root of all evil'
Since the beginning of the humanity history, at least the history that is studied at the schools along the country, we can clearly notice that we live on a constant fight for power. Much of what is behind this power is related to money, and naturally who has money, has power as well .
We have learned that in the old Rome, they fought for land, the more land they conquered the more people they had under their control and as a consequence the Empire got bigger and bigger spreading the race of Cesar, as much as they could, around the world. Jesus knew what was behind a simple coin which represents money and power so that he showed that it wasn't what he was searching, in the contrary, he wanted to leave the money for those whom wanted to fight for that, to whom were willing to die for that, to the false people who search power and control behind richness and that's why he spread love as a way of life. Unfortunately it was the ruin of his life but fortunately because of his death and his reasons he is still remembered today and I'd say forever .
Behind a slogan of a pure race, Hitler convinced millions of Germans to kill and if it were possible, to exterminate completely from the world the race of the Jewish. Isn't it a big coincidence that they were one of the richest people in the world?, couldn't he support all Germany alive by taking the Jewish money and richness during his war? His plan was quite simple. He convinced his people that their race was superior, the Jewish were inferior so they needed to be exterminated, of course and consequently Germany would keep their money. This money would keep them in the war and they would end up victorious on an episode that is considered one of the most tragical, violent, bloody, sad and so on, in our history and what was behind all this pain, the bloody money. The amount of money in gold deposited in the swiss bank with the suastic is something incredible. Will it be delivered to their real owners? This is what is planned, we just hope that they don't fight again for this to happen .
In the middle east they have been fighting for at least 2,000 years. Though it's said that it's an ideological fight, power is behind their ideal as well. They can't put up with each other's ideal and so they kill each other but it happens that the most powerfull submits the others and who is the most powerfull?, the one who got more money. Again we see episodes of suffering because of money .
Here in Brazil we live with it every day. People kill for less than a hundred real. Killers have different prices according to who they are going to murder. We hear on the news everyday cases of people who fools the others to get some money, sometimes the other is even a brother, a father, or a close relative of the person who is being fooled. I myself heard a report where the person said on the to the other who he had fooled; "I'm sorry to have done this to you, but we have to do it to live". The person in case had bought a car by the newspaper but never received the car or the money back .
Money can change (as drugs do) the personality of a person. The riches want to get more rich, no matter what they have to do in order to it. They've got good salaries but even thus they risk their integrity and steal public money even to eat. We see doctors who don't assist serious pacients because they don't have money to pay. A good example for this is when we see on the TV people collecting money to save a person or a child on an important surgery .
Perfect would be when people are developed enough to create a society where money doesn't exist. There was a time when it happened. A long time ago people exchanged services, benefits and material goods without the presence of money .
If you needed a doctor, you just went to a doctor, if you needed food, you picked it up on the nearest grocery but of course you would be responsible for any kind of service. I guess this society is each time more difficult to happen because of the presence of the money. The powerful people got so powerful that they would not agree with this proposition and then, more war for peace. That's way I totally agree that "money is the root of all evil".
|
027_BRMG1295.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Marx once said that religion was the opium of the masses. If he was alive at the beginning of the 21st century, he would replace religion with television
Recently, a research about the television was done in the United States of America. It discovered that most of people spend hours of their lives watching television. Men watch television about forty hours a week and women about twenty. It means that men watch television almost six hours a day and women more than two hours .
People, around the world, need the television, and if they need even a little bit of this every day, they are dependents. It became a "drug" in their lives and it's gonna be proved here. The television is accompanying the people's way of life since its invention (1928).
When the industry of "media" discovered the power of this means of communication, it began to use the television to rebuild people's way of thinking, creating shows, soup operas, novels, movies, etc. and commercials in-between that have told watchers what to do, what to wear, and who to be ever since .
The more the television became fashion the more people went to the market to purchase the way of life it preaches. But the sad part of this is that people have done so, more and more unconsciously .
Nowadays the TV has became inseparable part of our lives, and generation after generation has born in the TV era, thus we no longer judge its use anymore, although we should, especially for our children. We have grown up taught by the TV set and we have never stopped just a bit to think if these things showed off in TV are respectable and decent to help building our children's personality .
Most of these children of yesterday are us today, and the reader shall agree with this: that nobody notices how much TV is inserted in this society context, and it appears like a conjunctive tissue to fill the holes of the main tissue of our lifetimes, and, as it was told here in the beginning, alarming amounts of time have been spent in front of the TV set, therefore, two important things have emerged from this: the former is that our way of life hasn't been doing so fine, the major part of our society, the masses, has been put into forced laziness situations (unemployment, poverty, general discouragement) that end up substituted by something; and the latter is that all the things one uses tp skip from these "forced situations" (not to face life) are called drugs, and TV watching fits it. So, the television's become a drug; an opium of masses that dopes everybody to have not to face the reality, while it recreates an "would-be reality" to please the watcher. When the watcher is already addicted it starts to suck him/her, inducting her/him to spend money, time, space of his/her life...! It can be qualified as a very powerful and hazardous drug, but nobody realizes it! The worst drug is the one that is used and present without revealing its real identity. Let's see the drinking, for instance, even everybody knows it is addictive, it conquered a certain acceptance and tolerance even by the law, so it's found all around normally. The TV is much worse, because the society doesn't even calls it a drug, perhaps because it's been suiting all of its purposes .
So, meanwhile the television keeps destroying whole homes by "re-formatting" the time which people should get together into a lazy seat on the sofa, with no talking not to interfere with the "video-dialogue", we may let here a question in the air: wouldn't these sexual and violent behaviour of our youth nowadays a consequence of letting our children be taught by TV instead of us?
|
028_BRRS1024.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Marx once said that religion was the opium of the masses. If he was alive at the beginning of the 21st century, he would replace religion with television
Our society has changed over the last centuries and thanks to the science technology development and industrialisation we have a better standard of living. Consequently people have become more materialistic and have forgotten the basic principles to live happily. Therefore there has never been a place for dreaming in our society as today and people are more interested in reading and imagining how the perfect world would be .
In our modern world people don't have much time to spend as they like. Our lives are unquestionably better if we take in consideration the material standard of living but most of our time is spent in a stressful way. The process of modernization has affected the lives of individuals and it could be affecting positively if modern society were interested in abating poverty, inequality and ignorance, for example. However, it's not our main concern. The number of hours worked is gradually increasing because people are interested in making money to spend as the elite dictates. Unfortunately most individuals don't set value on remarkable things and getting new appliances in the market and paying for unnecessary surgeries are the present concerns .
Despite the several achievements human beings agree that some aspects of the ancient societies were better than ours. Because of it there is the surprising fact that people want to bring back the looks of the past by reading about them. They are interested in documentaries and movies about primitive tribes, the old civilizations and also by alternative life styles too. It makes us conclude that human beings have become dreamers in order to compensate our sad reality .
Authors who have written self-help books are famous and also the imaginative ones who make people believe in a world where everything is great. Everybody knows it's not a way of changing the society but it's certainly much easier to imagine the ideal world than to make it comes true. Being attracted by an utopia is a way of forgetting the civilization problems. Hence, the science technology and the industrialization have attracted peoples attention to literatures which give them the opportunity to dream .
Once many are looking for another type of life it make us believe that people are becoming aware of the fact that not everything is okay and that its the time to the world undergo change. The first important step is to realize that there are problems which we have already done. We are definitely getting closer and closer to the answer to our difficulties. Imagining is not the answer but it's comforting to know that human being have not lost their faiths that better days will come and continuous to dream .
|
029_BRRS1028.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Feminists have done more harm to the cause of women than good
There are few topics so much linked to modernity and our contemporary tradition as the discussion of the role of women in society. Throughout the years, the feminists struggled against the domination of patriarchal models imposed on women, many times fighting as fiercely as they could to have their voices heard. Harsh, biting positioning and attitudes of these women have been regarded as a step back for the building of a relationship of equality among sexes. Many people truly believe feminists as a groups have done more harm then good to the cause. However, one can draw their own conclusions by observing how far the fight for fairness has advanced and the achievements of women since the movement started to grow in power, despite some minor misunderstandings on their way .
One does not need to be a History expert to get in contact with the conditions under which women had been kept in traditional society; a brief look at history books or novels is enough to bring to the mind of the contemporary female the mistreatment and disregard towards women. The first feminists lived through the hardest conditions for a male dominated society could never be possibly open to dialogue and changes. It is easy to find historical examples of legendary feminine characters who directly raised their voices against the submission and limitations imposed to them and were severely punished and scolded. Women who dared to confront the patterns often received unsympathetic to say the least treatment. No wonder then, feminists at the very beginning of their organization as a movement had to take extreme actions not only to protect themselves from the rebukes of society, but also to create a sort of power that allowed them to be heard .
The achievements of feminists are visible. Every woman that is allowed to write, choose a partner, decide whether to have children or not, drive, work and go to college should keep in mind that none of these freedoms came to them out of waiting and passive action. It is true that feminism brought with it natural risks of extremism and ideas that deviated from the original purposes proposed by the first feminists; on the other hand, it also made possible for women to advance so much that many should think it as a necessary evil, if so .
Through a modern perspective, many have criticized the movement of feminism for its excessive combativeness against males and their straight tolerance. The image of a bitter, unloved, unwomanly woman stridently bashing men and everything slightly masculine is probably the image that prevails for many people every time feminism is brought into question. As it hold true for some representatives of the groups, it is certainly not this grumpy female who is the best portray of the movement which gained respect and rights for women all over the world. This stereotype of a hysterical feminist activist contributes very little to the real amplitude of the achievements feminists had to offer society. Many women sacrificed a good deal of their personal lives and concerns to the greater good .
Even if some of the most combative feminists really contributed to create an atmosphere of competition and inequality sometimes even hostility between men and women, it can be tranquility taken as a mild pitfall on the long path of struggles courageous feminist activists took for the good of all women all around the globe. In a nutshell, there are undoubtedly those who affirm feminists had done more harm than good to the cause; nonetheless, a careful observer can refuse this affirmation by taking a look at the long list of realizations performed by these women at the cost of their private lives and interests .
|
030_BRRS1036.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Feminists have done more harm to the cause of women than good
Unlike people tend to believe, the Feminist Movement has existed since biblical times. The Old Testament mentions that the five daughters of a man who had died claimed for their right to his inheritance instead of their uncle. They claimed Why should the name of our father be omitted from among his family because he had no sons? Give us a possession among our fathers brother. Thousands of years have passed and the struggles have been persistent. Women are still establishing their position within society. But at what cost?
It is unquestionable that the Womens Movement contributed a great deal to strengthen women's rights. Before the rise
of the movement women were not aloud to elect or be elected in local elections. Moreover, they had no right to own any property: it would belong either to their father or to their husband. Some were not allowed to work or wear pants because that would be inappropriate behavior for a lady .
However, being entitled to the same rights as men was not enough to the feminists, who claim that not only should women have the same rights, but also no gender differences should be considered at all. Having the same rights is not a synonym for behaving or being equal. It should only mean that these differences will not be used as excuses to discriminate one another .
As a result of this lack of boundaries, the Womens Movement did not consider the inner differences that exist between man and woman. Science has already proved that the males brain works and reacts in a distinct way from the females. And instead of valuing and developing what each gender has of best, the movement tries to ignore genetics .
Therefore, women assumed many male jobs in order to prove their capability while man made no efforts to take on female responsibilities. It generated three main consequences to the modern woman. The first one is the postponement of motherhood, which can lead to infertility and increase the probability of abnormalities in the fetuss formation. The second result is full-time jobs: women not only work regularly but also have to take care of their homes and children, most of the time with no help from their partners. It raises stress levels, and, consequently, the occurrence of illnesses and also creates tensions within the relationship between the woman and her family. Finally, it created a contingent of well-succeeded single women. Most men are not ready to date women more powerful than them and with better salaries than theirs. Even considering this kind of sexist behavior, the problems still persist: women do not want to remain single but they just can not find a partner .
In short, the Feminist Movement has done a great job in relation to women's rights. But we should reflect on the results of some of its claims, as some of them did more harm than good to women. Instead of accusing Harvard's president Lawrence Summers of being sexist, the movement should analyze the ideas behind his words. It should keep defending women but also take into consideration that gender differences are innate and can be better exploited so as to act on their own behalf .
|
031_BRRS1045.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In the words of the old song, "Money is the root of all evil"
In a capitalist society, where money is the fuel responsible for the functioning of this big engine, it is not surprising that it is also the main cause of all violence, and even in general terms, that money is the root of all evil, as it is said in the old song. People are moved by the goal of earning more and more money, many times, regardless what they may have to do in order to achieve it. This way, money has become the reason for evil in small as well as in large proportions. From robbery to war, evil has been mostly caused by peoples eagerness in pursuit of money either direct or indirectly .
It is broadly known by anyone who lives in a big city and it is obviously the main filling of newspapers, radio and television broadcasts, that violence has been largely motivated by economic reasons. What is worth mentioning is that not only upper or middle class citizens are victims of violence because of money, but that low class citizens suffer with the same kind of violence as well. Evil may assault poor people in the form of robbery, for instance, from which not even they are free of. Among the poor, robbery mostly happens at buses and at the dangerous streets of their equally poor neighborhood. These citizens have their already few and hard earned belongings such as watches, mobile phones, shoes and engagement rings taken away from them by robbers who most of the times sell the robbed belongings with the exclusive intention of getting money to buy drugs for their own use. But it is true that there are also robbers who commit small crimes as a means of providing food and other kind of essential things to their families, what is not an excuse, but yet, seems to be much more reasonable. The type of violence that usually assaults the rich, on the other hand, involves the suppression of larger amounts of money through the breaking into houses and kidnappings, for instance. It does not matter if it happens to the poor or to the rich. The fact is that these are all violent actions that involve serious psychological terror and may end up causing trauma in the name of money .
Turning the spotlight to a much bigger proportion we can discuss the cases of evil deeds being directed by the leaders of whole nations aiming at the destruction of other nations. The word is war. It does not matter the excuse officially presented. It does not matter if it is said to be a war against terrorism or in the name of God. We can always identify economic interest behind such excuses. In a capitalist world, economic power is what defines the power of a nation. Worldwide leaders of nations try hard to increase the power of that nation they rule, and some get to the extreme point of starting wars and killing masses of innocent people in order to gain power .
In summary, we can conclude that living in a capitalist society represents a strong reason for money being responsible for so many evil acts. Violence is broadly caused, in different proportions, due to peoples blind pursue for power and as a consequence, for what determines ones power in a capitalist world, that is money .
|
032_BRRS1048.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Some people say that in our modern world, dominated by science, technology and industrialisation, there is no longer a place for dreaming and imagination. What is your opinion?
This line was said by the American singer and songwriter Billy Corgan in one of his songs with his band The Smashing Pumpkins. Many times, this is the exact feeling that people have in relation to the modern world in which we are living nowadays. It seems that our world sucks our time, our pleasures, our capacity to think and analyse information since it all comes in such a fast way. And that is the reason that makes so many people wonder where the dreams fit in our rushed lives .
However, if on one hand it is possible to see people simply taken aback by the speed and modernity of our times and forgeting about their own lives and dreams, on the other hand, this is exactly what some other people need to trigger their imagination. One thing is for sure: modernity is coming as a rocket and cannot be changed. So, why not make the best of it? This positive philosophy is what moves people to use their creativity at the most. These people have the ability to take something that is seen as negative by the majority of people and turn it into something not only good, but creative, hopeful and imaginative .
I think I fit in this second category of people: the optmistics. I strongly disagree with the statement that affirms that there is no longer place for dreaming and imagination. There is certainly room for both in our lives, even though they may be rushed as previously mentioned. But you have to find room in yourself to dream and imagine, and many are those who just cannot do it very well. It is necessary to forget about the outside world and look inside for a while, as if you were making a pause of everything else that doent concern you and your dreams. Dreams are what make people move on with their lives. If it wasn't for that, where would we find reason to keep on going on? Where would we find motivation not to give up?
Fortunately, many people are just like me: dreamers. In my opinion, it is almost impossible not to dream. Some dreams are totally unrealistic and their dreamers know that they will never come true. But even these dreams are good for us, we use our imagination, develop our creativity and even laugh with the absurds that we wish. Some other dreams are totally possible to become reality. They may not be easy to achieve, but if you go for it and fight for your wishes they might come true .
It might seem a little crazy from my part, but I really believe that even the world in which we live the world that is blamed for our lack of dreams just got where it is now because somebody dreamed of it. All the scientic experiments and technological devices that are totally common today, didn't exist before and have only become alive because somebody used his/her imagination, and struggled to make them real. So, to sum up, dreams are what make the world goes round and is something that is inside us, something that we just can't deny. Even if the world doesn't allow us much time to dream, we always find a way to do it!
|
033_BRSM1348.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Feminists have done more harm to the cause of women than good
When the word feminism appeared, people experienced a different reality - considering the fact it happened during the nineteenth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. The consequences of the movements which have taken place back at that time have really caused changes and what we currently have is actually a completely different world, but the question is: has it changed for the best?
In fact, for a long period of time mens and women's roles were very well defined and now people are going through a huge role change. Even though this change is not as global as it could be, its worldwide influence can be easily observed. In Japan, the group (wether a family or a society as a whole) is greater than the individual and this means a particular woman must follow the old rules based on Confucianism and Buddhism both combined with the military class, which is basically look upon her husband as if he were heaven itself. On the other hand, in South Africa, divorced men claim maintenance payments for their children from their former wives .
Feminism is concerned with gender difference, and its discourse aims at equal rights. In a general way, when it comes to the Western society, it is possible to say that feminists goals are gradually being achieved. It is soon to say if the consequences of the theoretical equality of genders is good or bad for the society, but the reactions that happened so far show that this is a controversial subject. Before the revolution, it was easy to define mens and women's responsibilities men were the hunters, gatherers and providers and women, as the care-givers, took care of the children, of the house and, of course, of the husband. Today there are fathers in charge of the housework and mothers providing the financial sources .
It is important to consider that both women and men can benefit from taking on more than one single traditional social role, and that there is quite a bit of research to prove it they show that multiple roles can be beneficial. The researchers have found that employment was associated with health improvement for both single and married women who had positive attitudes towards their jobs. Likewise, men who held multiple roles also had better health researches have shown that multiple roles do improve physical and phychological health .
However, a routine that includes work, home, children and husband doesn't seem to be that easy. The studies and theories about the subject don't really mention the quality and the results a life with multiple roles has. Children education is another controversial issue and the problem with it starts at home. If a child doesn't have available parents, bad consequences will come, sooner or later. And if you don't have enough time to dedicate to your job and to focus on your career because you are taking care of your children, how far will you be able to go professionally? If you work too much and, when you are not working you are taking care of your children, how will you be able to keep a good relationship with your husband? Then, you have a mutiple role life - but with what kind of results? After all, are you really equal to men? And the most important thing: By living the supposed equal life, will you have time to actually live?
|
034_BRSM1351.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Feminists have done more harm to the cause of women than good
Since the word was first used in English to describe the mobilization for women's suffrage in Europe and the U.S. during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and even before that, when the term was still not in use, feminism has been one of the most controversial topics for discussion in modern society. It attracts, both the sheer passion of those who advocate for it and the repulse of those who are against it. But most people speak of it without fully understanding what feminism is and what are the implications it has had upon women's lives. Men and women, who deny the importance of feminism, and, at times, even consider it to have done more harm to the cause of women than good, say that what the political movement has mainly brought to women is not more freedom of choice or better opportunities in the workplace, but rather, it has taken women away from the house, not giving them any choice of staying in and taking care of their families without being undermined by modern thinking. Furthermore, feminism has deprived women from their most important characteristics and has been turning them into the men they never wanted to be .
Those who advocate the feminist thinking, on the other hand, believe that feminism, as a social and political movement, has been the most successful, and even only one to achieve its goals in the 20th century. Feminism, indeed, has proved itself as a powerful opinion former, and its ideals have been gaining space in mainstream culture every day. Women and men who have never even studied the feminist agenda are, and have been, passing forward its ideological thinking, having understood that both genders are equal and can take part in the same social, economical and political activities, as opposed to the understanding of the past generations, which considers women and men to have different roles that should be respected and not surpassed .
In conclusion, there certainly is always going to be discussions as to whether feminism has brought any kind of improvement in women's lives and made them freer and more complete as human beings, but, the fact is that, being able to discuss such matters and to defy the roles that were once set for women and men is, itself, an evidence that women, and men, have benefited from the struggle that feminists have put since their beginning as upper-class Suffragettes until their present as police officers, carpenters, doctors, executives, academics and even Presidents .
|
035_BRSM1369.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In the words of the old song: 'Money is the root of all evil'
Money is the way we use to buy a lot of things today, like food and drink, but also plesure, entretaning and good moments in travels arround the world. It was made just for it, to be the highway to change things that we have in other things that we want. Without it we would need to transport cows to a change point and get some corn. The question is, with the power that a lot of money bring in our capitalist world, could we simply have anything if we had enough money?
First of all, the kinds of things that we can buy are not just simple things that we need or substantial things to change our lives. These things we are talking about are mostly a representation of status nowadays. We can define it as eccentricity or any other word, but it is something that, in its most, looks like a selfish, meaningless way to show oneself. In addition, we can directly relate eccentricity with fame too. So, the famous and rich start a movement to spend their fortune in nonsense actions .
Some says that eccentricity is related with geniality too. For exemple, Edith Sitwell, the British poet and daughter of the eccentric Sir George Sitwell, 4th Baronet, of Renishaw Hall, wrote: "Eccentricity is not, as some would believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd." For sure, Edith Sitmell has her point, if you consider that Albert Einstein was used to picking up discarded cigarette butts off the street in order to circumvent his doctor's ban on buying tobacco for his pipe, piloting his sailboat on windless days, but nowadays, eccentricity became a instrument to rich and famous just strive for attention. In particular, we can describe rock bands like Nirvana and Guns and Roses, known for destroying most of their instruments or their own hotel rooms just for fun .
On the other hand, not everything is lost. We still have many people that use their money in a good way, such as Paul David Hewson, Mr. Bono Vox, known for his cause and philosophy to help people around the world. Just like him, we have others, like Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, celebrities that do not use it to travel to the moon and call for pizza. They conscious of their status and use this on their side .
In conclusion, we cannot say that the way money and status are used today is only a matter of point of view and justify any act, or that money can buy anything, but we can see that the values of some are not on the right direction. If the capitalist system is not fair with everyone, we do not need someone burning their money in something stupid or selfish. We need more people worried about important causes and about others .
|
036_BRSM1372.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In the words of the old song: 'Money is the root of all evil'
It is a common saying that money is the root of all evil. According to the Random House Dictionary of Proverbs and Sayings, the phrase first appeared in English circa 1000 A.D. The saying originated in the New Testament. For the love of money is the root of all evil. Timothy, 6:10.
It's obviously one of those sayings that has as great deal of staying power, having been around for two thousand years and still going strong. But how fair is it to blame all evil, or even any evil, on a medium of exchange?
Maybe, it would be a much more accurate statement to say that the root of most evil is man's desire for status; either greed to increase ones status, or jealousy over losing in the status game to others. Money is the most obvious measure of ones status, so it's easy to confuse the two, but they are certainly not the same thing .
It's easy to point to many evils committed for the sake of status in which money wasn't involved at all, for example, in sports competitions, jealousy in relationships, and rivalry with relatives, Those situations have nothing to do with money, but everything to do with status and the need to be more successful then others .
Idealists wonder why we can't live in a world where everyone is equal, and therefore where there is no greed or jealousy resulting from status differences. Unfortunately, they overlook the fact that our desire to have higher status than others is part of our human nature, and nothing can change it. The goal of communism was that an economic system would be created where no one would be rich or poor, where everyone would have equal wealth. The problem is that such a system is impossible. Mans desire to rise ahead of others is too strong, and money is not the only thing that man competes over. And because all men are not equal in ability and other characteristics, no matter what the playing field is, some will rise ahead and others will fall behind, and those who are behind will feel intense jealousy, even if the competition is about something other than money .
Desire for money is a good thing when people play by the rules, and when their desire for money and status results in better ways of doing business and in inventions that help people and that make the world a better place. Desire for money and status is only bad when people do bad things in order to obtain what they desire .
|
037_BRSM1377.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
C1
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most university degrees are theoretical and do not prepare students for the real world. They are therefore of very little value.
The time when a university degree could guarantee one a better job is long gone. In today's world, not only has it become ordinary to all of those who are seeking a position in the market, it does not prepare those who do find one to the kind of work they are going to perform. As a degree became a prerequisite to enter the job market, universities all over the world started creating courses to all fields, including those that did not necessarily require a 4-year curriculum .
To start with, the syllabi of the universities courses are rather theoretical. Therefore, students who dedicate years of their lives being prepared for the career ahead of them find themselves ill-equipped when facing the world outside campus. Coping with the new reality is often a better preparation for the work itself than having all the knowledge involved in a particular area, but no practical experience. No sooner does one leave university than they realize that. Furthermore, much of the content learned in universities is irrelevant, while the process of learning it nurtures a plethora of attitudes and behaviors which are directly contrasting to what appears to be needed in real life .
On the other hand, there are many courses that are vital for one to perform their job properly. Careers such as medicine and advocacy have constantly been developed in order to adapt to new practices in their areas. These courses really prepare their students for their work, as all the theoretical knowledge passed to them during their years of study is an essential element in their careers. What is more, the acquaintance of theories and the familiarity with the foundations of the field contribute to the improvement of area itself, as these new highly-educated professionals will become the architects of the courses curriculum tomorrow .
Taking everything into consideration, one can say that university degrees are overrated. If they do not prepare their students to the job market, why are they so prized? Managers and directors in all areas give more credit to a university degree than to a highly-experienced professional, but little do they consider that the latter has more tools to efficiently perform his tasks. While universities do not start considering these matters, their students will continue to learn about work at work, and about life by living it, as Charles Handy, an educator with many years experience in business and public services, once said. And he adds: We could do more to make sure that the process of education had more in common with the processes of living and working as they are today, so that the shock of reality is less cruel .
|
038_BRSS1344.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: In the words of the old song: 'Money is the root of all evil'
Like is writing on the Bible, in the New Testament, and people says because of thousand years of common sense, money is the root of all evil. But, if we start to thinking about that, even the Catholic people, the phrase does not make sense .
How fair is it to resume all evil on gold, silver, salt, coins, or any other medium of exchange? Money is just one way of get things. The problem begins in man's desire for power and status. Probably, if they rethink about that phrase, it will be the root of most evil is the man's vanity. One should never expect the Bible to be consistent, and sure enough, it isn't when it comes to evil. One of the very first acts of evil committed in the Bible has nothing to do with money. In the Book of Genesis, Cain kills his brother Abel because he is jealous that Abels offering to God was better received than his own. He is jealous that Abel has achieved higher status or power than him .
While the Catholic Church created this common sense around the money, the Protestants interpretation of Bible, and the human History, is money is the solution for all evil. This thought was and still is the base on all development of industrialized countries that did not punish who have worked to join money, or have had ambitions of growth social and financial since the old time .
And today, are the developed nations maintain this thinking without any trouble? No. Idealists wonder why we can't live in a world where everyone is equal, and therefore where there is no greed or jealousy resulting from status differences. Unfortunately, they overlook the fact that our desire to have higher status than others is part of our human nature, and nothing can change it .
Greed for money may be a good thing when people play by the rules, and when their desire for money and status results in better ways of doing their business or in inventions that help people and that make the world a better place. Desire for money and status is only bad when people do bad things in order to obtain what they desire, without think in the other people. And even then, it's not greed that's really bad, but the person who's doing the bad things who's bad .
The goal of communism was that an economic system would be created where no one would be rich or poor, where everyone would have equal wealth. The problem is that such a system is impossible. Mans desire to rise ahead of others is too strong, and money is not the only thing that man competes over. And because all men are not equal in ability and other characteristics, no matter what the playing field is, some will rise ahead and others will fall behind, and those who are behind will feel intense jealousy, even if the competition is about something other than money. The goal of a just government should not be to punish people for being successful in obtaining money, but to create rules to ensure that competition for money results in good for society .
On the contrary like the old song says, Money is the root of all evil / Won't contaminate myself with it / Take it away, take it away, take it away, take this though away, and do what is right, to you, to your neighbor and to humanity as a whole .
|
039_BRSS1345.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Marx once said that religion was the opium of the masses. If he was alive at the beginning of the 21st century, he would replace religion with television
One of the most popular main of communication nowadays is television. There is one in each house in the occident and now it has been arrived in the orient too. Children grow up seeing its programming and it is forming character of many, surpassing until the education obtained in school. This occurs because of many factors and maybe there are no more possibilities to revert this situation .
Marx once said that religion was the opium of masses, but today it is no longer truth, because a greater opium has risen in our society, the television. He couldn't imagine so strong instrument of control in his time; he has only determined the manner how this control functions, but it can be applied not only to religion but to all kind of control and television is the most relevant and common instrument nowadays. It's that what well talk about in this text .
Parents use television like a babysitter. They goes to work and lead their children to school and after that, the children stay home alone with nothing to do beyond to watch television. Or parents stay home with them, but they are not interested in having any activity with theirs suns, so the TV is the easier way to solve the problem. All the programs in any part of the day are very interesting, attracting attention of the children but have no profundity neither are important or educative. The children passes all day watching TV, they learn that to read is a boring duty and become victims of the system of control .
Today there are many adults that have grown up in this kind of TV education. They are problematic, presenting problems in communication and socialization; they don't like their jobs and many of them are unhappy. Besides, they are absolutely abstracted and don't have interest in politics, economy or culture. They are only guided by the mass, following and believing exactly in what they see in television the new music of the moment, the new season of their favorite TV series, the manipulated and limited news of the newscast. They are zombies of the system, exactly like they are meant to be .
Matrix is a movie trilogy that represents well this alienation of reality. All the human beings are controlled by a computer program that makes they think they are exactly what they want to be. They are used by the system like batteries to make the world of machines functions. It is a representation of control that really exists in our society, but in a more veiled way but so harmful as the example .
By the way, there are very important questions that have been done and in which answers we have to think about: Who makes television to do what it does? Why can anyone want a thing like that? In the real matrix, we-batteries are used to make what functions? If anyone could know the answers for that, he certainly would be out of the manipulated mass and would become a manipulator too .
|
040_BRSS1346.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Some people say that in our modern world, dominated by science, technology and industrialisation, there is no longer a place for dreaming and imagination. What is your opinion?
Nowadays, we live in a world where people are totally dependent on modern facilities. These facilities have began to be introduced in our society from industrialization which allowed a great improvement on the life of people .
This progress brought with it a great change in economy, politic, science and society in general, but mainly in culture. People became fascinated to the progress of technology and then, so many inventions like telephone, computer, microwave, etc, transformed the life of people. All these changes came to improving the living conditions of population but they caused an acceleration of time. Nowadays, everything is so much faster and the velocity of information makes people have rapid access to facts which are happening around the world. Add to that the globalization is also a result of this all transformation .
There are no doubts that inventions allowed a great development of the society but what did happen to feelings? What did happen to dreams? What did happen to imagination? Well, people are so much worried to acquire more and more material products, they are working in an uncontrolled way to get so much money to buy too expensive houses, last generation cars, last generation cell phones, high power computers, notebooks, etc, and the scientists works to make the best technologic discovery of the century. Anyway, people are living to get things, material things, but they are forgetting to live a real life .
So, I think it is a wrong way to live. In my opinion, they are loosing the essence of life because all efforts are concentrated to technologic searches and natural values are in a second level. But, where are dreams and imagination? They are also concentrated to build an artificial world. It is obvious that there are exceptions but now population is thinking in an individual way. They are destroying nature in name of progress and scientists don't mind with the consequences of scientific researches .
In the university, there are some courses that are considered theoretical and because of that they have less importance than the technological courses. It is a portrait of being thought. The courses that prepare students to think or the courses that claim imagination not application or courses don't prepare people for the real life, these courses do not have the same relevance than the others because the world needs the great technological discoveries and not only people that are thinking about the matters of society .
One day, I read in the internet that the human imagination is what will allow us to control science and technology for human needs and I agreed with that, because nowadays we are more needs than dreams. Everything what we want, we easily get, everything is on our hand. By the way, science and technology exist to provide these needs and then, dreams are easily achieved. Because of that the life looses sense. So, it is also necessary to cultivate our soul. I think it is necessary to give more importance to relationships, nature and human beings. It is necessary to use our imagination to make something good to our animals, ours plants, our planet and human beings. It is a dream that can be get through science, technology and also imagination .
Anyway, we are living in a modern and industrialized world and it is impossible ignore science, technology and industrialization because they are part of our lives. We must use them to supply our human needs but we must use our imagination and dreams to feed our souls .
|
041_CNUK1005.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most university degrees are theoretical and do not prepare students for the real world. They are therefore of very little value.
As a university student, when I entered the university and chose my major, I found a phenomenon that some subjects offered are theoretical, which caused the students' complaints. They think the theoretical courses are not only boring and difficult to learn but also less practical. The present would needs people with practical skills and knowledge to solve the problem in their work. Moreover, when they apply for a job, they stuck in a dilemma situation: they possess the diploma or a degree requested, but they haven't experience or lack adequate practical ability .
We are now entering a brand new era, a completely new stage in its history. The new century is a time of advanced scientific and technological knowledge. As the rapid development of science and technology, there are rapid changes in all aspects of our life, even the value concept. Today is a era quite different from the time when those writers, poets and artists were highly respected. They most desired and hot professions are president of big company, CEO, manager, engineers, doctors, and so on .
So when the students choose their major, their parents also approve them to choose some hot majors, so that they can easily find a decent job, make a comfortable life or even make a fortune .
However, there are also some people agree that superficially some theoretical courses have no practical value, but without the theoretical knowledge, one cannot develop overall. But we should know everyone has limited time and energy, therefore it is impossible and unwise to emphasize too much on some theoretical subjects. We have to face the reality, we should remember a worthy saying: "the survival of the fittest." The heavy pressure from the job market forces us to put our limited time and energy into practical courses. If we don't adopt ourselves to the development of our society, we will be eliminated in the fierce competition .
When we were children, our parents often told that if you don't study hard you will be a unuseful person. So they toiled everything to support our life and education. They send us to the school and hope us can get good education and will find a good job in the future. That's their plain dream, but what we will see? A student study three or four years in the university, after graduating he find that it really hard to find a decent job, and the knowledge he acquired in the university is not as useful as they expected. In contrary we may find some people without high degree but they have high practical ability and skills, they really like a duck in the water when they apply for a job. Education aims to arm people with more knowledge so that adds to their competitioners in their future career and enables them to live better. If the education is the university don't follow the development of our society and the courses offered are too theoretical but less practical, we dare say the education just decorate our life but give us nothing .
Things are always changing, with the passage of time, some major are not to be in great demand. We your generation should keep pace with the latest advance of science and technology. Here I'd like to mention another thing - teaching material. Not long ago a friend of mine talked about his university life, he said, in his first class in the university the professor told the students that the subject was not only boring (because it was a theoretical course) but also what they would study was the research result of fifty years ago. He felt very angry and asked the professor a question " Why should we learn this subject, we come here is to learn the up-to-date knowledge, not such useful rubbish. When I heard this, I felt very sorry. The school administrators have to know what is in need in the labor maket and then decide which courses they should offered to the students. I still remember a passage which said " We'd not educate children only for the purpose of educating them; our purpose is to fit them for life." That 's really true .
When I talked here, I think of our education system. It has to improve. Education is key to strength of a country. In long-term, the school cultivate the young generation not only enable them live better but also cultivate more talents for our country. It is the high time to pay more attention to this issue and do something for it .
|
042_CNUK1029.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Should military service be compulsory in your country or should the army of your country consist of only professional soldiers? Discuss.
China is a nation which has the traditions of unity and strivation. According to the law, every chinese citizen has the duty and responsibility to serve for the army when the nation is in danger of being threatened by other nations, in danger of losing the sovereign and territorial integrity. For us, military service should be compulsory .
When you look through chinese history books or when you call on at chinese history museums or martyr monuments, you will get to know many chinese citizens who lived in the tumultuary age were willing to join the military service in order that they could drive the intruders out .
Maybe you will remember the father of the nation, Mr Sun Yu-Xian. In his time, the government of the Qing Dynasty was a puppet. It was under the control of other contries. As many other patriots, he joined the military service and managed to overturn the governance Qing Dynastywith great efforts accompanied by other fellows. Eventually the Democracy government came into being under the guidance of him. It made a good foundation for the complete liberty of China .
Also, chairman Mao Ze Dong, one of the founders of the People's Republic of China. In his age, the situation in China was worse than before. Several countries such as Britain, France, Japan etc had been longing to split China into pieces or to under their fully control. At that time, he followed the call of the country and served for the army without hesitation. He and other revolutionary people tried ways to relief China out of bad situations. Finally they succeedeed in having resisted the invading forces and having put down the domestic war and having founded the new China .
If we don't have the principle of impulsory military force how comes the achievements today .
Nowadays, the world structure has greatly changed. Though we live in a peaceful age, cold war is still existent. We don't know when another war will begin. Also recently, the news about terrorist attacks can constantly strike on us. We should be courteous .
In order to defend on ourselves, we need the army which consists of only professional soldiers. They are the main force on this matter. Only can they know how to operate the equipments well. Only can they be good at the strategy in that crucial time. But from the combat capacity point of view, owning the professional soldiers is not enough. We also need up-to-date weapons and equipements to improve the quality of the army as a whole. They can reflect the comprehensive national force and economic power of the country. They are also connected with the GDP and scientechnological level. Take the U.S.A. as an example .
Both the economic power and comprehensive national force of the country are on the top of the world. These advantages will contribute to the combat capacity of himself. It is possible for him to spend large funds and high-technology on manufacturing up-to-date weapons and equipments. It is possible for him to train the professional soldiers to become more capable and more competent. It could be fully manifested from the Iraq War .
For Chinese army, it is the same. It needs strong combat capacity and it also need more competent professional soldiers, which will contribute to our construction .
Since the reform and opening up, great changes have taken place in China. The economic power and comprehensive national force are better and better. We need a peaceful environment in the course of modernization. We should have the army which consists of only professional soldiers to keep the safety of the country. At the same time, we, every chinese citizen should be ready to join the military service to keep fence for the revival of our great country .
|
043_CNUK1042.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Feminists have done more harm to the cause of women than good
In my opinion, feminists definitely have done a little bit more harm to the women who are now living in a world filled with heavy workload and under severe atmosphere. Some of them even have no time to take special care of their children. Probably, some feminists for such compromise will defeat me. However, in the view of my point, the world is combined by two parts: the hard one and the soft one, the former is male, and the latter is female who has gentle but great power to create the beauty world .
Traditionally, especially in East, woman used to be categorized to the part that could do nothing but give a birth to a baby or weave something at home. They have quite low status in the society; some of them even cannot eat at a table with their husband. Accordingly, in order to get higher status, female have been battling for quite a long time to obtain the same status with male until today. Of course, female is equal to the man, and they should have same right as man has. Nevertheless, nowadays, feminist go too far from the "right", they worked as a man, drink as a man, and some of them even refused to have a baby. Actually, it will do harm to such crazy female .
Over the world, the basis of a steady society is family. Consisted via male, female and children, such a complete family is able to do favour for the society. Over wise, lots of feminists believe in that the family could do nothing but destroy a gifted woman. So they suggest woman go out to work day by night, abandon the right to have a baby, even wear as a man. That's not the equal right! Man play his role in this world, woman does as well. Female have hundreds of ways to express their ability, not only on hard working. In Japanese, most of woman, who hold bachelor or above degree, will not go out to work after having a baby; they draw all attention on the family and children. Children could be taken special care during their growing period. When they come back home, mama could give them a cup of hot chocolate instead of cold dinner; when they are ill, mama is able to stay with them instead of working in a company for a large project. Certainly, woman will be respected for their contribution .
Both male and female are playing a critical role today via various ways. Father teaches us how to know the realistic world, and mother teaches us how to love others. Either of them is so important when everybody grows up. Feminists would like us to ignore the gender, and each woman should have a hard and cold hart to conflict in this serious world. However, achievement is not only formal working, and real "right" indicates that we should have right time, right place, and right lift-style. We should root our dreams and life in a warmer solid. Feminists, please be gentle!
|
044_CNUK1049.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most university degrees are theoretical and do not prepare students for the real world. They are therefore of very little value.
As the development of society all over the world, more and more people from developed and developing countries tend to go to universities and get various degrees. However, there is an opposite opinion that university degrees are theoretical and of little value .
Although universities degrees seem to be of little value in the real world, they are still very important for most people. In general, the effect of university degrees can be divided into two main parts .
In fact, university is an important place to teach people basic knowledge in the academic fields, meanwhile, it is not easy to pass all the courses and get university degrees at last. There are five processes that you can take control of in your strategy for getting a good degree, which are: wanting to learn, needing to learning, learning by doing, feedback and making sense of what you are learning. First of all, from hard study people can learn to capitalize on teaching-learning situations smartly by making the most of lectures, small-group tutorials, seminars, studio work, field work, laboratory work and group work, which will be used as basic skills to be in charge of how to treat with work in real world in future. Furthermore, a lot of essays, reports, peer assessment, self-assessment, research projects, presentations and work placements may make people intelligent to contribute to the overall quality and classification of their degree. So the situation in the real world is. One more thing, in society, more people seem to be suffering from stress. Being a student has its own stresses as well. However, while at university many students can manage their stress levels as possible as they can by many scientific methods, which are analysing the causes, making lists to save somebody cluttering their mind, and trying counselling. It is definite that it will be made use of the real world. In addition, people can gain more basic skills used in the real world through attending to university programmes because of doing plenty of extra work that can stimulate their specific experiences, such as doing some investigations in depth. For example, people can develop their interpersonal skills that are highly valued by employers while at university. The reason is that university as a small society reflects the real one. What's more important. As we know, most university degrees could be seen as main factors to apply for their jobs. This is a reason for the recent condition that more and more people go to study at university. It is also a realistic thing in the modern society that high university degrees symbolise as high techniques in some specific fields. It can be said that university degrees can be seen as a strong competitive strength to compete in future .
However, universities degrees have a few problems. The most significant one is that people may not have a chance to get a lot of experiences for their specific fields .
According to the above discussion, it can be easily found that university degrees have both advantages and disadvantages. It can be believed that a few disadvantages can be solved in the future, even if there are a few disadvantages .
|
045_CNUK1051.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Discuss the view that capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder.
In most countries, capital punishment is carried out in the murder and some other very serious crimes. However, in latest years, somebody argues that if it is the best and the most humanism way to punish such a crimes. In their views, when you use the capital punishment to punish the murderers, you just kill another people, no more meanings than that. If you keep the murderer alive and execute the life sentence, you can make him to work in the prison for the left of his life, through such a punishment, he or she can do something good to the society. In their opinion, this way is both good to the society and the criminal as well and there's a fact that some countries or some parts of a country have abandoned the capital punishment. So, they advocated that should not be carried out. Unfortunately, nothing could be more misleading than that. In my view, as long as the serious crimes exit in our society, capital punishment should not be abandoned. The following are several reasons to support my opinion .
First of all, Executing of capital punishment is fair to the victim. Somebody says that just kill the murderer is not humanism enough; I think it's totally wrong. They killed other people, if depriving their life does not punish them, is it fair to the victim? Of course not, the life is the basic human right, nobody can deprive it just at his or her pleasure .
Besides, Capital punishment helps to decrease the crime rate and achieve a more peaceful social surrounding. It is common sense that human being fear of death, if everybody could realize the consequence of the serious crimes, they will take it into a second thought, and a lot of horrible deed behaviors could be prevented. The reducing of the crime rate will result in more peaceful surrounding .
Furthermore, keeping the capital punishment could upgrade the public's moral standard. The aim of capital punishment I feel is not just kill people who killed another one, is not just an eye for an eye, the true meaning of it should be educate the people what is good and what is bad, it makes the sense that everybody's life is important and could not be invaded. By doing that, each one in our society will regard other's life as precious as his or her own, love other people then care for other people, this the reason why the public's moral standard could be enhanced .
The above-mentioned points can clearly show you why the punishment is still indispensable. It is fair to the victim and their relatives, it helps to make a peaceful society and it upgrade the people's moral standard. Although it is important, on the neutral basis, I do not advocate the abuse of the death sentence, if some power wants to use capital punishment to achieve their bad intention, it should be absolutely given up. As a conclusion, if we can use the capital punishment properly, it helps to make our society more peaceful and orderly .
|
046_CNUK1090.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Discuss the view that capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder.
In the modern century, many countries have the capital punishment in the legal system which is contoversial in the world. It is because the capital is cruel fine and many people said that if should be carried out. Although many countries abolish the capital punishment, it still survives in some countries. People would like to illustrate the capital punishment by looking at justice and equality to victims, to prevent the voilent crimes, an inhumanity punishment and a good fine to murder. This essay will be to explain and discuss the capital punishment applied in law and utilize the US and China to do examples. People can look at about execution in their society conditional .
The capital punishment is more equality and fair to the victims who are harmed or killed by murder. If someone is killed by murder, the murder has not got a heavy punishment. Many people think it is very unfair. Therefore, if someone support the capital punishment, it is rational to the murder cases. For example, China and US enfores the capital punishment in some murder cases. The aims are to gain revenge to victims or their relations .
The capital punishment enforced in the law which can prevent the violent or serious crimes to happen. It is because the execution can be more efficiency to stop the serious crimes such as murder assault, drugs problem or terrorism. In addition, in the criminal psychological, the capital penalty appear in the law which can help someone to stop the crimes to happen and it can threaten criminals to decrease .
Although the capital punishment seems to be very reasonable in the legal system, it is not true because the capital punishment is an inhumanity penalty to the criminal. The execution, in US, it is to kill someone with an instrument which injects poison to death. In China, if someone had a conviction a sentence, which is the capital punishment. It is shot to death. The government sometimes show this punishment in the news, which is terrible, savage and justies to the criminal. In addition, some execution cases is charged to make mistake but the criminal is punished. Form this show, Is the capital punishment really suitable for all of murder cases? Is it fair? All of sentences are true or reasonible for them. Nobody can answer that .
At last, someone said the capital punishment is a good solution to have a heavy punishment to some criminal who are imprisonment for life. Some countries can remove the death-warrant which change the life imprisonment. As a result of some criminals have not got any freedom in their life. If the excution is used, it is maybe more suitable to the criminal .
In conclusion, the capital punishment is an inveteracy in some countries. It is very difficult to escape the execution, which is very useful in the law. The capital punishment can be justice and equality to victims, prevent the voilent crimes, a inhumanity penalty and a suitable fine to murder or criminal. In the future, if the victim or victim's relatives decide the capital punishment be applied to the criminal, it is maybe better as result for the victim or their relatives .
|
047_CNUK1105.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Discuss the view that capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder.
Human life is valuable and unique to everyone. Now one can decide when a person dies. Murder is a kind of most serious crime ' commonly ' around us. Everyone should be protected by the law and those murder should receive their appropriate punishment. However, should we send the murders to death in all kinds of murder cases? Life is valuable, so is there any contradiction to what we said above?
Capital punishment is not really applied to many countries which is bounded by law. It is a punishment that sends the criminals by hanging, injecting poisonous materials into the body or by using electricity. No matter what way is used, it is also horrible to the criminal. Therefore, before we decide if we should carry out the capital punishment, we should know clearly about what are the reasons to do so. Also, are there any other alternatives to replace it?
Undoubtedly, the death penalty is really threatened to the public. It is a good signal to threaten people not to the serious crimes. However most cases of murder may not be a ' well planned ' crimes. The murder may commit the crime unconsciously. Most of the murders may kill a person when they were in a condition of uncontrolling. It could not be denied that the criminals really felt guilty because of their unconscious decision. Moreover, murder is a case that difficult to be investigated. It may not be rared to find a case that was really determinated wrongly. Therefore if we sent the criminal to death, we might do something wrong and which is no return! Although there might be some ways for the criminals to appeal, it's still difficult to convict the judge to believe since in fact the case was determinated before. Besides, those cases with really evidence to prove the criminal is not guilty .
People may argue that since the murders killed people. It is fair to punish them by the capital punishment. However, is ' life replaces life ' is meaningful? In fact, sending the criminals to life sentience has been destrive their life freedom. They have no right to do what they want, besides receive orders in the prison. Actually, if the murders were punished for their who life time in the prison, the public has been protected. There are some restrictions to apply to the life penality if the capital punishment is abandoned. The reason for this is to gurentee the safety of the public .
In short, I think all people's life are valuable and important. The people being killed are pity and depressing to their families. However, killing the murder is just the same cases of ' murder'. Life is also being destrived. Moreover, we should let people admit their faults and give them chance to change. Human life is unreplaceable, we should not carry out the capital punishment because of ' fairness' to those were killed .
|
048_CNUK1115.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Should military service be compulsory in your country or should the army of your country consist of only professional soldiers? Discuss.
In china, the PLA was consisted of only professional soldiers. But in many other countries, military service is compulsory and every citizen will have to proform as a soldier for several years. especially young university students. And in my opinion. military service should be compulsory .
There are several reasons why I think so. First, China, as the largest country of East Asia, had the widest borderline. To keep the whole borderline safe is not an easy thing. It need a large military force to be on duty all the time. But the soldiers sent to a certain place may not be familiar with the environment. Even they are professional soldiers, they may probably meet some troubles. If military service was compulsory, the border line can then be guarded by soldiers selected from local people who were familiar with local environment. And they can certainly do the job better than soliers from other places . .
Second, nowadays' young man are lack of life experience. They often care little about others and lack of discipline. Some of them even had never had any hardship and always waste things. Although Chinese government forced every university student to have a month's military training, it had little effect. People can't be changed in only a month. Comparing to these young man. those who had joined the army and serviced as professional soldiers are much more disciplinal and energetic .
So just imagine that if all the youngsters will have to serve in the military for several years, will it still be so many problems about youngster?
Third, although the world is peace now, it still has the possibility of breaking out a war. And after so many years of disarmament, china's present military forces may not be enough for a war. But if military service was compulsory, those people who bad had military training can form a great military force at any time. That means almost every citizen can be the part of resistance to the invasion. Such things had happened once during the Second World War, when the Japanese army invaded China. At that time, almost everyone: soldiers, guerrillas and even citizens fought against the Japanese invader. And everyone may know that we won the war and defeated Japanese invader successfully .
Forth, armies formed by professional soldiers often developed slowly. Because every soldier had the same training and this made them always thought and acted in the same way. For this "the army had few good commanders and new tactics. This will cause the army losing the ability of fighting. Now the PLA was starting a
revolution, "trying to avoid such situation. In fact, I think the best and easiest solution is to let military service be compulsory .
Although letting military service be compulsory has so many advantages, it also has disadvantages comparing to forming the army consist of professional soldiers .
For example: more money is needed to train soldiers, and soldiers may not as good as professional ones. But after all, make military service be compulsory can do good to not only the army "but the education as well. That's why I choose it .
|
049_CNUK1137.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Should military service be compulsory in your country or should the army of your country consist of only professional soldiers? Discuss.
Should military service be compulsory in my country or should the army consist of only professional soldiers? It raises me deep thinking of the formidable military service image .
In my opinion, not only should the military service be compulsory but also the soldiers in the army of my country ought to be professional. Army is part of the main strength of our country, whose members, the soldiers are required to be the most honest defenders of our country and our people. Professional soldiers play a very important role in our country, by doing their utmost to resist the invasion and be ready to sacrifice for our motherland .
In my country, soldiers are all selected strictly from all over the country, and then get professional training which makes them into qualified professional soldiers. However, considering China's whole national conditions, it is not good enough just to have professional soldiers .
In the first place, China has such a large population than other countries' that it needs a great formidable army to protect the country and the people. There are a great number of teenagers who have not continue to study in school nor to find a job, roaming in big cities or the countryside. Maybe they will come up with crimes which do great harm to the society. They drop up their study maybe because their poor family or because they themselves do not want to obey the rules in life. To some extent, in spite of their misdeeds, such guys are not so bad for they have sturdy bodies, tough personalities, which indicate that they can be fit for professional soldiers. Therefore, compulsory military service can help the country avoid the lost of talent and have better control of the society, by gathering all the possible strength to form a firm army system .
What's more, compulsory military service will do good to the education system. Once the policy that military service should be compulsory is carried out, the situation will be different. If a guy reaches the age of serving in the army, he must make a choice that whether to go on study or to have a job or just to join the army as the rules require as long as his body condition is qualified. In that case, the rebel guys are forced to make decisions to be a soldier or a student or a worker. In this way, guys need not be a member of the military service unless they continue their study or work. They will stay at school and have to learn. Education system is to influenced by the compulsory military service. Instead of roaming in the society, the guys will find their real direction of life. Thus, it is obvious to see the good that compulsory military service does to the education system .
The last but not the least, compulsory military service does not only mean guys should join the army at proper age, but also requires professional soldiers in the army. Professional soldiers should have good health first, and must acquire sufficient knowledge, keeping the pace with the fast changing world. Nowadays, the army system is much advanced with hi-tech equipment which provide soldiers excellent training environment. For example, the guys of our hometown who got professional training in the army are no doubt taken pride in by the people. They return home as both professional soldiers for our country and for themselves in life. The smart minds and tough personalities which are further developed in the army enable them to bravely face and cope with the difficulties they meet in life. They hold quite optimistic attitudes to life. In the long run, compulsory military service can play an important role in developing a person's personality into more optimistic and tougher form .
In a word, it is obvious that compulsory military service of my country should be compulsory and the army should consist of professional soldiers, for that will well improve the army system and benefit the society security control and the education system, even help develop the quality of people's mind .
|
050_CNUK1138.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Discuss the view that capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder.
For many years, capital punishment has been discussed whether it should be abolished. My answer is certainly "No". Murderers are cruel. And they are usually referred to the violent thugs. They should be sentenced to death. What they put them do put them beyond the pale of humanity. They are not humans and, therefore, they cannot expect to be treated as human beings. They must be made to see the error of their ways, and the only way of doing that is the capital punishment .
Murderers whose motive is money should not get off lightly. The professional killer who would not think twice about using his cosh or crowbar to attack and batter some harmless lady to death in order to rob her meager life-savings. It is absolutely wrong to think professional killer are insane and need hospital treatment, The only thing that is the most suitable to treat him is to punish him the same as the pitying old lady was suffered. Maybe it is too cruel, but it is quite necessary. Criminals must be made to see the consequences of their crimes . "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" is the very basis of justice .
Capital punishment used to be a major deterrent. It made the violent robber think twice before pulling the trigger. It gave the cold-blooded poisoner something to ponder about while he was shaking up or serving his arsenic cocktail. It protected the most vulnerable members of society, young children, from sex-maniacs. It is horrifying to think that the criminal can literally get away with murder. Therefore, we cannot abolish this punishment,
Of course some people claim that it is ruthless to punish the murderers by the cosh or hanging. But had the thugs had thought that it was too heartless to the innocent people before they committed the evils. It is not the proper thing they need to worry about. Executing by shooting, hanging or injecting the poison are more humane than the other penalties at present imposed. Thanks to the modem methods the capital punishment is quick and painless. It is only the agitators who campaign against the death penalty who say it is cruel. The reality is that it is a kindness to the murderers. Far better to be shot or hanged than to suffer the slow torture of life imprisonment which is in any case a burden on the long-suffering tax payer.. it is also inevitable that some people are always willing to hold liberal views at the expense of others. It is always fashionable to pose as the defender of the under-dog. So long as you, personally, remain unaffected .
We all know that "life sentence" does not mean what it says. It is only a nominal sentence. It leaves a chance for the criminal to escape. After ten years or so of "good conduct" the most desperate villain is free to return to society where he will live very comfortably, on the proceeds of his crime, or he will go on committing offences until he is caught again. In no time at all, the murderer will be released. How can ordinary people feel safe knowing that there are murderers on the prowl and probably seeking their next victim?
Only the capital punishment can ensure that people can sleep safely in their beds. So, there should never be suspension of capital punishment .
|
051_CNUK1149.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B2
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Discuss the view that capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder.
Capital punishment is the harshest form of punishment enforced in the world today. Whoever violates the law should be sentenced, by either serving himself in prison or being given a death penalty. Consequently, it's quite clear that criminals who had committed murder should face the executions for their evil deeds .
However, death penalty strikes some people as too cruel, and it is believed that it shouldn't always be carried out to deprive the murder of his life so easily. Therefore, capital punishment becomes a difficult issue in discussion and there are many different opinions about it, especially in America, where human rights are highly respected and capital punishment has already been abolished in some states .
Anyway, it is always true that everything in the world cannot be defined exactly as right or wrong, so we should be objective toward an issue, and look at it all-roundly. And it is the same with the view that whether capital punishment should be carried out in all cases in murder .
Generally speaking, capital punishment should be carried out in most of the cases in murder. First of all, it's obvious that punishments are made to punish those criminals and to prevent crimes, and would positively give a potential pause in the thought process of the murderer, using fear as an incentive for preventing recurrence. The harshest punishment for murder will set up an alarm for those potential criminals. If only they value their lives, they would not commit murder so carelessly .
Besides, once a person is proved guilty of murder, he should be sentenced to death, because justice must be served. Only placing murderers in prison isn't a tough enough punishment, since in jail they would have a possible chance for parole. But they actually did kill someone, and they should pay for it life for life. What's more, for the sake of the security of the whole society, we have to be some kind of inhuman or cruel to sentence those murderers to death, so that justice is served by executing them. They deserve it. They have caused much grievance to the family and friends of the victim, and execution seems like the only way that justice can be served. And only in this way, would the punishment fit the crime and would the victims' family and society get some comfort from the grievance and recover from the resentment .
However, things are not so absolute. When we return to the "nature" of the crime committed, there are some cases in which the murder has some reason to be excused. For example, he might be arguing with someone when he suddenly flied to rage, and beat that person to death without control. Actually, he didn't intend to do so, but in such a circumstance, he was out of ration; after the tragedy happened, he had regretted to death .
Similarly, there are many other possible cases that people killed someone by accident. They are not guilt in nature, but made some terrible mistakes - against their will. They don not seem to be that detestable to be executed just because of their offence through negligence. Some punishment in jail is enough to them, since he has already been condemned by the society, suffered great pain in his heart, and served himself in prison as punishment. He was taught to know that one should control his temper however bad the situation is. Provide the family of the victim and the society consent to forgiving the murderer, he can be given the chance of being good again .
Overall, capital punishment is an effective approach to punish murderers and prevent crimes furthermore. It should be carried out to protect the security of the society, and to hold the justice firmly, but there can be some exceptions. When the case of murder is special and when the murderer is pitied and forgiven by the society, the justice and the jury can make their decision by taking into consideration the circumstances, and try to avoid using the capital punishment .
|
052_CNUK1184.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Discuss the view that capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder.
As you know, thousands of people would lose their lives everyday for lots of different reasons. Some are die of disease, some are die of the old age. Some are die from traffic accident, some are murdered, and so on .
However, we can avoid so many person lose their lives. Reasons of disease, accident and age that are can't control but we can stop the murder cases raising. We can protect the right of life. We can also forbidden the unfair matters happen by rules .
Even though, in the society, there are still so many reasons that make someone to kill a person. Take money for example, someone will lose himself, will lose the humanity, just in order to get more money. They just think about themselves, they just want to enjoy the life without any effort, they just want to get but giving. In a word, they are selfish. They are harmful to every member of society. Once they are arrested, they will be capital punished. That's no doubt. And no one will feel pity about that. People even will say that, " That's the result they ask for."
Besides the money, under the seduction of the power, murder becomes more and more common between two different governments or two organizations. In some foreign countries, many political leaders were murdered, just because their political opinions go against their own. Here, we can't tell which side is right or which side is wrong, but we are sure that, " To kill a person or more just in order to build a new peace government, just in order to bring the fortune to people, all of these is not humane. It is even an excuse to clear the way for his own benefit. This case is also unacceptable. What's worst, this kind of case usually is abused by the whole world .
However, there is another kind of murder, which still needs discussion for the punishment. Why does it need discussion though it is illegal? Here, I will show the background to you. A cadre oppress the people with his power, and get much extra money from the people, who make the people live under a terrible sutuation. The people do nothing to him though they hate him very much. As days past by, this ill-treat makes people feel terrible. Finally, someone can't stand for him any longer and kill him. Well, he did a good job for people. And he would be praised by the people. But, from another point of view, he breaks the role, his behavior is illegal, he should be punished by the judge. In fact, the dead man is really not a good cadre, but maybe is a good husband or a good father. As his death, his families may go crazy, and couldn't live on normally. In another word, the murderer also did harm to people. Why do the people will agree to kill the cadre? Why do they will surport the murderer? That's because these people don't know much about the rules, and they don't know how to use the rules to protect themselves until they can't turn back .
According to this example, we can see that no matter for what reason, once you break the rule, you must be punished. If not, this world will become disorder, the life will be at danger all the time, the whole human being will stop developing. At least, human being will die out from the world. From that case, we also found a serous problem, that is, " so many people are lack of knowledge about rules." I think, that's the reason why so many people break the rules .
So, in order to keep the world peace, we must learn the rule and we must use the rule to protect ourselves. Besides, we insist that we will go on to punish the murder strictly no matter for what reason they kill a person .
|
053_CNUK2008.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Most university degrees are theoretical and do not prepare students for the real world. They are therefore of very little value.
Why do people want to go to universities? Some people might say university degrees are theoretical and do not prepare students for the real world. Well, in my point of view, people who said that might not be educated in university in their life. I admit that preparation for entering the real world is not enough for students in universities. But think about that, why those people with university degrees are easier to get a job? Doing degrees in university has both advantages and disadvantages .
The advantage of doing a degree in university is obvious. Why those companies want graduator of university? Because those people already have been educated in a high standard although in a very theoretical way. But theoretical does not necessary mean useless, instead, it is the experience of those people learned before, which can help university students preventing making the same mistake. Theoretical knowledge is totally not a bad thing. Let us compare to what happens in the real life, think about our driving lessons. I believe that pupils read awful a lot about how to drive before putting their hands on the steering wheel. Just like university degrees, they must pass the paper work like theory test then take a road test. People said that students get too much theoretical knowledge than practise. I do not think it is the weakness part of university education. Studying theory knowledge is the best way to prepare the coming challenge in the real life. The preparation to entering the real world is not just study theory test as well. As we are all university students, we know there is huge amount of research or business enterprise and all sorts of activity in the university campus. Within university you can meet lot of different people as well, just like the real world, people are coming from all over the country or even from different nations. What a chance to study different things! In the real world, we probably do not have those sorts of chance. So in my point of view, I think university is the best place to do preparation to entering the real world .
Of course, doing theory studying without doing practise is useless. In some university, it does happen which means when students enter into the society, it might cost them more time than others to be fit where they will be .
Anyway, I am a university student right now. I benefit from being a university student a lot and will be in my whole life .
I
|
054_CNUK2017.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Discuss the view that capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder.
Nowadays whether the capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder is a controversial issue. Some people believe that the murderer should be seriously punished by the capital punishment, while others hold the opposite opinion. As for me, I vote for the latter .
There are numerous reasons to support my point of view and I would like to list some of them as follows:
One of the first primary reasons is that the murders can be turned into useful persons if they were sentenced lightly. There is no denying that they have a harmful effect on the society and public, however, I do think everyone is kind and decent when he or she was born. Maybe sometimes they are forced to do that, therefore, they should be given the opportunities to correct what they have done. If they are killed by the capital punishment, it is true that they will not gain any chances. That reminds me of a TV programme which was shown a few months ago in my own country. There was a youth who had robbed and killed a taxi driver after drinking. At first, he should be sentenced by the capital punishment two years later. After entering the prison, he did not lose the confidence of his life. On the contrary, he tried his best to correct himself and did very well in all of the things. Maybe you cannot imagine, he even learned the courses relating to accounting by himself and got the diploma in the final examination. Due to his efforts, he has been lightened for his crime. Now although he is still in the prison, he has continued to do his best as well as his studies. From this example, we can easily see it is not necessary to sentence all the murders into a capital punishment .
The other main reason is that everyone has the right of living. So I do not think the murders must pay for what they had done with their lives. I maintain that the murders can be taught and trained by the appropriate approach. They may be changed and after they enter into the society, they can devote themselves doing many things that are beneficial .
However, as everything has its light and dark sides, we must admit that some murders who had extremely impact to the society and public should be carried out by the capital punishment. For example, they had been given some opportunities once. So I claim that the judge should distinguish the details and then make a suitable sentence .
From what I have mentioned above, I think that capital punishment should not be carried in all cases for murder .
|
055_CNUK2032.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Feminists have done more harm to the cause of women than good
With the development of economics and technology, people are more focusing on their own rights, power and freedom. In this modern society, women are becoming more and more important than before in many areas. They gradually have the equal status with men. While some people thought it was feminism and feminists had done more harm to the cause of women than good. It is unfair opinion. I am strongly against this kind of ridiculous thought. I support women could have enough freedom and the same right as men. I will illustrate four reasons to strengthen my idea .
The first point which is also a basic one is that women had a sad story of the past. As it is known to all that women's status was much lower than men's. They had no chance to be educated, go out like men and no freedom. They were thought they were weak and prejudiced. It is seemed that men control them and they were just like their husbands' slaves. Men thought the reason why women lived is that they need to bore children for men's families, especially in old China. It was a common phenomenon that women stayed at home to take care of their children and the whole family. They lost themselves. They had no freedom and any right in daily life and communication. So women who lived in the past were poor and symphsized. They had huge disaster which should have the same rights as men. Time is changing, the female should have chances to be treated and recognized as the same as the male .
Secondly feminists show the equal relationship between females and male. They do not harm to the cause of women but good. It is not wrong for women to own their freedom and power, there are some advantages displayed. Firstly feminism reflects that women have waken up. It helps women be more confident. They will notice actually they can do what they want to do and even something they never considered before they could do both housework and jobs as well. Women will be respected as well by good achievements what they received .
In addition, many careers need women such as teachers, nursery, caring and sellings. Women are careful and patient. They do better than men. Thirdly, feminists brought the great challenges to males. Male feel engineering and law. This kind of pressure helps men work harder than before. They thought they were men so that they should be better than female otherwise they will feel uncomfortable and lose face .
|
056_CNUK3065.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Discuss the view that capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder.
Suppose you are shopping in a supermarket, when you have chosen a lot of things and gone to pay in the cashier, will you feel fair and comfortable if the staff tells you that no matter what you buy, you have to pay at the same price? Can you imagine you have to pay $100 for only a cheese cake? Similarly, if all kinds of murders are punished in the same way - capital punishment. It will be a kind of misuse of punishment and the laws will lose its real meaning - to protect every body's right and freedom justicely. There are various kinds of murders in the world, such as serial murdering, slaughtering, bringing other people to death, etc. Accordingly, we should set down the relevant laws to punish a guy who breaks in the same extreme way. If so, it will be a tragedy for a civilized society, and also for the equalization of laws .
Moreover, although some people hold it is as general truth that to punish these bad guys heavily can largely reduce the crimes by giving a signal to those potential criminals, things are going to the reverse. On one hand, the "real" killer will try to escape and even kill more because he knows that it makes no difference for him to increase the number of victims to 2 or 20. The result is the same. On the other hand, people who kill someone by mistake dare not to confess his guilty in the police station. Because the judge will not listen to his explanation, but also focus on the fact - someone is killed. So capital punishment should be exercised. Hence, no one will admit his behaviors. All they want to do is to hide themselves in order not to be arrested by police. Consequently, the whole society will become a mass .
Furthermore, for any human society it is not a wise way to prevent crimes from happening by setting up cruel punishment methods. Crimes do not exist at the every beginning, but happen unwillingly in most of the cases. As a result, the legistrational institutions should try to strengthen the constiousness of laws in public. And the society should provide sufficient resolving methods to its people, to help them get out of difficult situations both financially and mentally. Thus, less crimes will happen and the whole society can be peaceful in a real meaning .
|
057_CNUK4002.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Discuss the view that capital punishment should be carried out in all cases for murder.
ln the modern century, many countries have the capital punishment in the
legal system which is
contoversial in the world. lt is because the capital is a cruel sentence
and many people said that if should be carried out. Although many
countries abolish capital punishment, it still survives in some
countries. People would like to illustrate the capital punishment by
looking at justice and equality to victims, to prevent the voilent crimes,
an inhumanity punishment and a good threatment to murder. This essay will
be to explain and discuss the capital punishment applied in law and
utilize the US and China to do examples. People can look at about
execution in their society .
The capital punishment is more equality and fair to the victims who are
harmed or killed by murder. lf
someone is killed by murder, the murder has not got a heavy punishment .
Many people think it is very unfair. Therefore, if someone supports
capital punishment, it is rational to the murder cases. For example,
China and US enfores the capital punishment in some murder cases. The aims
are to gain revenge to victims or their relations .
The capital punishment enforced in the law which can prevent the violent
or serious crimes to
happen. lt is because the execution can be more efficiency to stop the
serious crimes such as murder, assault, drugs problem or terrorism.ln
addition, in the criminal psychological, the capital penalty appear in the
law which can help the crimes to stop or happen and it can threaten
criminals to decrease .
Although the capital punishment seems to be very reasonable in the legal
system, it is not true
because the capital punishment is an inhumane penalty to the criminal. The
execution, in US, it is to kill someone with an instrument which injects
poison to death. ln China, if someone had a conviction a sentence, which
is the capital punishment, he is shot to death. The government sometimes
show this punishment in the news, which is terrible, savage and justice to
the criminal. ln addition, some execution cases is charged to make mistake
but the criminal is punished. Form this show, ls the capital punishment
really suitable for all of murder cases? ls it fair? All of sentences are
true or reasonible for them. Nobody can answer that .
Eventually, someone said the capital punishment is a good solution to
have a heavy punishment to
some criminals who are imprisoned for life. Some countries' the head of
state can amnesty the death convict, and the death-warrants change the
life imprisonment, for examples, Hong Kong a. lt is very common although
there is the execution in the law. As a result of some criminals have not
got any freedom in their life, it is more cruel threatment. lf the
excution is used , it is maybe more suitable to the criminal .
ln conclusion, the capital punishment is an rootedness in some countries .
lt is very difficult to escape
the execution, which is very useful in the law. The capital punishment can
be justice and equality to victims, prevent the voilent crimes , a
inhumane penalty and a suitable punishment to murder or criminal. ln the
future, if the victim or victim's relatives decide the capital punishment
be applied to the criminal, it is maybe better as result for the victim or
their relatives .
|
058_CNUK4011.txt
|
en
|
icle500
|
document-level
|
learner
|
B1+
|
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
|
Title: Feminists have done more harm to the cause of women than good
Feminists, belonging to the most arguable issues in nowadays, play a core
role of job - dividing and social status' forming. Those who support the
equality of male and female believe that feminists are good for women,
while others insist that what feminists have done to women is definitely
more harmful. The argument has been continued for several decades. Along
with the researches of the scientists, new evidences are revealed to give
the latter one stronger proves. Following are the details of this issue .
To begin with, feminists do have given female more chances to prove their
capabilities and creativities. In many working circumstances, women are
playing more important roles than men, or at least equal to men. However,
scientists claimed that there have been too much more working stresses
put on women resulting in the unharmonious between family members and
home violence. According to Jerry Z Muller (2003), nearly 30 percent
women are facing home violence or quarrels with family members result
from too strong working pressure, which all come from the ideas of
feminists. Dr. Muller said that women are the most significant elements
of a specify family, whose hormone are secreted to keep everything they
may concern into a certain balance, to reduce potential quarrels. The
more attentions women pay to their job, the less they spend to their
family members. What the feminists done is already harmful to women in the
passed decades .
More over, another important difference between men and women is the
strength differences. Women's abilities of heavy work are less than
men's. This phenomenon results from the different amount of water
contained in blood of men and women, the latter contains more than about
15 percent as well as that of men, reducing the oxygen delivering
capability of female. So, it is not strange that men are more suitable to
carry heavy things. Hence, it is too arbitrary to carry out feminists
without concerning the differences between male and female, even though
men and women belong to the same species .
In addition, it is obviously that women are easier to feel tied than men .
It is proved by Mr. Muller that there are more red cells in men's blood
(about 20 percent higher) than that of women's. Since red cells' duty is
to supply the oxygen to the body cells, less red cell inducing women are
easy to get tire in general times. Appropriate concerns about the
different situations between men and women are good to improve the
efficiency of the latter's .
To sum up, though men and women are both human being, they are still quite
different from each other, not only as individuals, but also as two
different genders, which lead to the unlikely job adaptations and family
maintenances. What feminists did in the passed several decades is
definitely too arbitrary to reduce the inappropriate situations that the
majority of female were facing. Although everything has both sides, the
pros and corns, which is just like a coin gets two sides, each one-sided
view is not justified enough, what feminists have done to female is still
more harmful in the course of women than good .
|
End of preview. Expand
in Data Studio
This dataset has been indexed in the UniversalCEFR. The transformed version (in JSON format) retains the same license as the original dataset. Ownership and copyright remain with the original creators and/or dataset paper authors. If you use this transformed dataset, you must cite the following:
Dataset License: cc-by-nc-4.0
Dataset Repository: https://dataverse.uclouvain.be/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi%3A10.14428%2FDVN%2FRIOSSC
Original Dataset Paper/s:
Granger, S., M. Dupont, F. Meunier, H. Naets, & Paquot, M. (2020). The International Corpus of Learner English (version 3). Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.
Thwaites, P., Vandeweerd, N., & Paquot, M. (2024). Crowdsourced Comparative Judgement for Evaluating Learner Texts: How Reliable are Judges Recruited from an Online Crowdsourcing Platform?. Applied Linguistics.
- Downloads last month
- 189