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Topic 4 Not everything that is learned is contained in books

Learning, as the name indicates has lot many meanings as to which source one would choose to understand things of his own interest. Books have always been an inevitable part of one's life as they have the ability to make people aware of the different things happening in our world. It is said that not everything that is learned is contained in books. This is in fact true because books can offer us knowledge regarding the things that have happened and sometimes the ways to deal with a situation that one can encounter in his life. I would appreciate the fact that the knowledge gained from experience is much more important than that we receive from books. I would like to further illustrate my reasons as follows:

Everyone would admit the fact that knowledge gained from experience is one that remains in our mind forever. It is correctly said, "Experience is the teacher of man." Being a science student, I have gone through different books where we come across different reactions and experiments, where the results will be shown in the form of diagrams or may be expressed in a simple language. Unless we conduct that experiment we will not know the problems or the difficulties we will have to overcome during the experiments. Textbook knowledge is merely a description of facts and outcomes, whereas the same knowledge when gained through experience teaches us a lot, right from the start till the end and its a journey through the various aspects of one process which one might not be aware of and might not be described in the books.

During my undergraduate years I had only knowledge from books and I used to wonder how the experiments are designed and how they are carried out. But, during my post graduate days I had to do a two month nutritional trial on fishes where I had to cope up with everything like procuring tubs and fishes, arranging aeration facilities, preparation of food for the fishes, daily water exchange, samplings, analysis and so on. Now, I am confident of carrying out similar works and the experience that I have gained will remain with me as long as I live. When similar instances occur, we will have more self-confidence and when such aspects are passed on to our juniors, they would also feel happy and confident.

Needless to say books are also very important. What I have mentioned is from my viewpoint as a science student. There are many different subjects where the conduct of work is tough and in such circumstances we gain information from books. Some aspects would be time consuming and tedious and performing such a work with a limited period of time would not be feasible. In such cases, books definitely open a person's eye towards various aspects and give him first hand information about what he wants to know.

A person who has learned from experience never forgets what has happened and if it was proved a bad thing then he would certainly try to avoid that situation in the future. If something good has happened then he will put his best to further improve it; that in turn will enhance his skill and boost his self-esteem. Knowledge gained by experience can be passed over to others who also are supposed to face the same situation and that helps the person to be aware of what he intends to do. He can even avoid those factors that can affect his performance.

In fact I would rather say that knowledge gained from experience lingers in our minds forever and that boosts our confidence when taking up a similar task. On the other hand, the fact that books are knowledge providers cannot be ignored, because books provide us with lot more information about the different things that are very difficult to be experienced. Hence it can be concluded that knowledge gained from books is second hand knowledge whereas knowledge that are gained from experience is firsthand and it takes a person through the different hidden intricacies of the task and makes him learn the knowledge in a practical manner.

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Topic 4 Are books more important than experience?

To my opinion, books and real experience are two completely different sources of knowledge. It is really difficult to determine which of the two to be of much greater importance, because normally knowledge gained from experience complements that acquired from books, but not substitutes it. Comparing the features of the two sources, I would stress the following points of differences.

First, the knowledge gained from books is, to a certain extent, of abstract nature. Books are normally the collections of facts and general rules. Books give us the most complete overview of a subject in a more or less structured manner, covering all known details and exceptions. In some way, books are concentrations of knowledge and experiences of many generations of people, given in a concise and comprehensive way. Obtaining such knowledge just from the personal experience would take an immense amount of time or even would not be possible at all. The practical experience, gives us not general knowledge, but particular skills. Without these particular skills, all the knowledge gained from books might be just a useless collection of facts and rules. The best example of the importance of practical experience that comes to my mind is learning a foreign language. One can learn a lot of vocabulary and grammar rules, memorize many exceptions, but without actual applying of all this knowledge in real life conversations, writing letters and listening to real speeches, one can hardly be proficient in the language. The importance of having practical skills is also proved by the fact that most employers appreciate working experience above all grades and diplomas.

Another point of contrast between books and experience is that for some subject, such as economy of sociology, a book may represent a point of view of its author or authors. The conclusions given in the book might be out of date, or might be biased by the personal attitude of the authors. In this case, practical experience helps to build up personal perspective on the matter, to bring the matter up to date.

On the psychological grounds, learning from experience is much more efficient than reading books. Reading books is in most cases a passive action, which can be done without much effort. Despite the fact that there are people who can memorize thousands of papers, for a normal person, such work does not result in a deep, comprehensive knowledge base. On the contrary, doing things in practice, people have to overcome various difficulties, get through unknown areas, and pay attention to small details. The reward for these efforts is much more comprehensive and profound knowledge.

Summarizing the said above I want to admit that both books and practice is important in the process of learning. While none of the two can be considered as absolute substitute for the other, I would place the practical experience in a little bit advance position in terms of importance.

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Topic 4 Are books more important than experience?

We gain our knowledge about the world and our life from two sources: from experience and from books. These two resources are both important, but which of them is more important?

Knowledge from books forms a very important part of our knowledge structure. In schools and colleges, we learn knowledge that is fundamental to our future career. We learn knowledge from books in order to make our contributions to this society in the future. A student learns mathematic equations and other scientific knowledge and become a scientist or engineer. We will be illiterate and ignorant without learning knowledge from books. Moreover, we acquire knowledge about life and the world by reading books, magazines and newspapers. This is also very important, as we cannot experience everything all by ourselves. Therefore books are a very important source of knowledge.

On the other hand, we cannot learn everything from books. "Experience is the best teacher" is an old cliche but I agree with it. The most important, and sometimes the hardest lessons we learn in life come from our participation in situations. We learn how to get along with others or how to gain self-respect from our experience, not from books. We cannot learn emotional feelings, such as love and care, through books; they come from our real life experience. Knowledge from experience is also a very important supplement to knowledge from books.

Needless to say both learning sources, books and experience, are very important to us. But in my opinion knowledge from experience is more important, because without knowledge from experience, it is impossible to get a real understanding of knowledge from books, and how to apply this knowledge to real world situations.

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Topic 4 Are books more important than experience?

Upon the question "not everything that is learned is contained in books", different people have different opinions. From my point of view, I believe knowledge gained from experience is more valuable than knowledge gained out of books. In the following paragraphs I will try to explain my position more clearly.

Firstly, life's valuable lessons are learned from experience. Can you forget important lessons learned from your childhood years, such as jumping down from a high place and broke your arms? From that accident you knew the importance of self-protection. Knowledge gained from experience is likely to be retained in our memory for a long period of time, although most of the time we have to pay a price for it.

Secondly, knowledge that is gained by doing things can provide you with firsthand information. If you don't have the chance to experience on your own, you can only obtain second-hand knowledge and you will feel a lack of self-confidence.

Moreover, many skills and knowledge can only be learned through practical experiences. You cannot learn swimming by just reading from books on how to swim. You have to actually get there and jump into the pool. Experience is the best way to develop your personal abilities.

However, just as an English proverb goes "a coin has two sides," reading books is also helpful. After all, you will not have the chance to experience everything by yourself. For instance, to travel to foreign countries is expensive and time-consuming, while reading a book about different cultures provides you with plenty of valuable information in a short period of time.

To conclude, knowledge gained from experiences is more important. Life requires knowledge, and experience is the key.

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Topic 5 Should a factory be built in your community?

I strongly oppose to the plan that a large factory be built near my community. My arguments for this point are listed as follows.

The first and foremost reason lies in the virtually inevitable pollution that a large factory is bound to bring about. Considering the limit of the present technology, hardly any kind of factory is able to secure its mass production without the slightest pollution to the environment. Once a factory enters my community, and embarking on its continuous activities, even a tiny element of pollution will by all odds accumulate to a dangerous degree that will eventually cause a serious damage to the environment of my community. To think of the exhaust gas or water and the noise given off by a factory will help you fully understand this idea. Cities have already suffered from those nightmares of modern industry that shows no signs of ceasing to emerge. No one would like to behold the air of his or her community is no longer clean, or to find his or her community totally removed of hush.

Besides pollution, which is to some extent an invisible but deadly threat to my community, there is an immediate problem that a large factory will force to confront with: it will occupy a large area near or of my community, which should be more likely exploited as a public site that benefit all residents in the community. For example provided a suitable area is available, it is more worth a gymnasium that will enhance the standard of health of every resident in the community, than a big factory leading to disgusting noise and suffocating gas.

Perhaps, some people would like to vote for such a plan of building a factory simply on an economical ground that a large factory will probably stimulate a prosperous future of the area around. But unfortunately, history has witnessed numerous counterexamples. Many factories neither attain an economical success nor left the environment intact. So I doubt this declaration.

Taking into account all these factors, I find the disadvantages weigh much heavier than the possible advantages. Therefore I strongly disagree the establishment of a large factory near my community.

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Topic 5 Should a factory be built in your community?

As the company has announced to build a factory right here in our community, I am so eager to say a few words toward this issue. I really think that if the plan is carried out in the near feature finally, there will be much more disadvantages than advantages to be brought to the quality life of our social community.

Of course, during these years' high unemployment rate, introducing of such a large factory will consume unemployed workforce in some respects. A family may increase their income by taking account of its new employed father during or after the construction of the factory, local government can increase its tax income and retail dealers of our community may sell a little more because of the increasing of population that may be the result of the new build factory. However, all these benefits may seem to be so small when compared with all those disadvantages the new build factory may lead to.

The most hateful thing is that you may not able to smell the fresh air in the sunny Sunday mornings because this huge industrial monster will probably deliver a great deal of waste fume and waste materials every day, far more than the amount you can imagine. And far more disappointed than this, those rumbling, non-stopping stream lines in the factory can make noises loud enough to bereave people of our tranquil town out of sweat dreams.

And you will no doubt feel uncomfortable to drive your family to the camping place because maybe the establishment of the new factory will bring more than 20% increases in population as well 30% increases in using of private cars and trucks, imaging how could it be in the street in rush hours, or even in the holidays. So, you can see clearly that increasing in population is not always good news for a small community like ours.

Basic food prices may probably rise and public transportation will burden more, which usually means poor services, public schools and community facilities which once made us feel so convenient living in this small town may get harder and harder to be attended or utilized as the increasing of population, upon all those disadvantages, why should we give applauses to the announcement of the company?

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Topic 5 Should a factory be built in your community?

I support the idea that a factory to be built near our community. I list my reasons as follows.

Firstly, a new factory near our community helps to improve the living standard of people in our community. The factory will employ a lot of workers. As a consequence, the unemployment rate will drop significantly. Many people in our community will find a job in the factory. As people's income increases, they will be able to spend more money on their food, clothing and leisure, and the quality of life will be increased.

Secondly, a new factory will bring prosperity to our community. The tax collected from a factory is an important source of revenue for our town. As people have higher income, income tax collected will also be increased. With the increased amount of tax dollars, the town will be able to spend more money on infrastructures and other development. Moreover, in order to accommodate more workers, more homes and stores will be needed. This will boost real estate development in our community.

Some people say that a factory would bring smog and pollution, and destroy the quality of the air and water in the town. While this is partly true, modern technologies have made today's factories technology intensive and brought pollutions to the minimum. There are also worries that the social structure of this community will be changed and the traditional life will be affected. We should understand that our society needs to evolve and we cannot always stay in the old time.

Of course, there are some drawbacks of building a new factory here. But in my opinion, the benefits outweigh the dangers. Therefore I strongly support to build a factory here, and hope that others feel the same way.

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Topic 6 What would you change about your hometown?

Today, everything seems to change in split seconds. But, there is something that still lacks among every soul that resides in my hometown. And, I think you have got what I meant, cleanliness. These ideas of cleanliness in my opinion are divided into two types: external and internal cleanliness.

I was born in Kuala Lumpur and have lived here all my life. The city that I see today is way too advanced and developed compared to when I was in primary school. Kuala Lumpur is well known for its magnificent and the most luxurious airport in the world. But, what is the use of having all these advancements when the sense of cleanliness among the citizens is still below average. In example, I have actually witnessed a man spitting on a beautiful pavement when there was a dustbin right next to him.

Apart from what I have mentioned above, I would like to emphasize on internal cleanliness. Most people in Malaysia treat foreigners with good respect and hospitality. But, there are some people who would take advantage of these foreigners. For instance, shop owners raise the price of goods when foreigners visit their shops. I have actually witnessed a cab driver bargaining the ride fare with a foreign lady who was extremely tired after a daylong shopping with her young kids. I am trying to wonder, what has happened to the moral and the culture of our fellow Asians that we used to be so proud of?

I understand that the government has taken lots of steps to improve the state of cleanliness within fellow Malaysians. I just hope that these steps were more comprehensive. We should cultivate the sense of cleanliness among each and every citizen in order to promise success to the planned manifesto. Last but not least, every citizen should willingly contribute to the efforts of maintaining cleanliness in their surroundings. We should not be self-centered when it comes to the matter of cleanliness because cleanliness ensures a healthy living. Think your deeds of maintaining cleanliness as a charity and start it from the steps of your home. At the end of the day, you will experience self-satisfaction towards your contribution to your hometown, as a wise person once said, "The greatest gift of charity is to give what is in your heart."

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Topic 6 What would you change about your hometown?

I am from Arroz e Feijao, a small town in the northeast of Brazil. If I can change one thing about my home town, I would like to build a factory here. Building a factory in there will bring a lot of advantages and disadvantages, but I believe that Arroz e Feijao will mostly benefit from the building of a new factory because it is largely populated by poor people and the factory would bring many benefits to this small town. However, of course, a factory has disadvantages as well.

As you know, factories usually bring pollution. If this factory is not managed very effectively and efficiently according to specific rules, it's prone to polluting the local air and water. What's more, factories usually make noise. Beside clean drinkable water and fresh air, an ideal community should be quiet. If the factory cannot maintain this standard to the community, it will not last long. A factory that is too noisy or pollutes too much will eventually be relocated to a new area.

On the other hand, a factory could bring a lot of benefits to the community. So I would support the plan to build a factory to my community for all the reasons I will describe below.

First of all, the construction of a factory will surely improve the local infrastructure. To run smoothly, the factory will have to have a steady, reliable supply of water and electricity. Some old pipes will be changed, and some facilities will be renovated. The residents' living standard get improved as a result of these widespread changes, an important benefit in Arroz e Feijao, where many people do not have access to clean water.

Secondly, to make sure the shipping of materials and products and the employees' commute more convenient, the local roads will have to be rebuilt and broadened, resulting in improved public transportation. The town's residents can take a public bus to go shopping or go to work. As a result, air pollution and fuel consumption might be reduced.

Most important, a factory's establishment will bring up a lot of employment opportunities for the community. A factory needs experts from various fields. The residents can take just a few minutes to go to the factory to work. So, the local residents can benefits from this factory.

Generally speaking, I would like to build a factory near my community if I have a chance. If the factory can be managed successfully, the factory and the local residents can have benefit mutually.

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Topic 6 What would you change about your hometown?

If I could change one important thing about my hometown, it would be air pollution problem, and I will give the following reasons to explain why I want to solve the problem.

The first and most important reason is that I hope that my hometown can become a beautiful city. As an old industrial city, my hometown has made a great deal of contribution for the country's economic development. At a result, the natural environment of the city has been badly damaged. The forest has disappeared; the mountains have become bald, and the most awful thing is that the air quality becomes more and more worsen. People seldom see the blue sky during most time of year.

Another reason why I want to change my hometown's air pollution situation is that the city's development needs clean and tidy environment to attract investors. Nowadays people have come to know that the city's environment, which is so called "software facility of the city", plays an important role in the city's future. For example, due to the fact that the environment of the city is very poor, many local students who pursue their study out of the city would rather find themselves a job in other cities than coming back to their hometown after they graduated.

In addition, nowadays people have paid more and more attention to their health. If the air pollution problem cannot be solved as quickly as possible, people's requirement for a healthy body will never be realized.

In my mind, changing air pollution will apparently be my first choice if I can change one important thing about my hometown. Fortunately people in my hometown are gradually aware of the serious problem and start doing something about it.

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Topic 7 How do movies or TV affect people?

"Reel life is based on real life," they say. But how far it is true is left to the judgment of the individual's intelligence. The impact that movies and television have on our lives can never be over-emphasized.

Nowadays television and movies are the only sources to keep in pace with the latest trend in the global environment. Every part of our lifestyle is somehow influenced by what we see in the television or in movies. The advent of the motion picture has been one of the greatest influences of the cultural activities of the humankind. It does not require great intelligence to ascertain this fact. If we just give a glance to see hanging or posted on the walls are the photos of our favorite celebrities from the tinsel world, mounted on the table are things from our favorite T. V. show, the music blaring out of the system of the latest excuses for musical excellence, in your wardrobe are outfits last seen on our favorite stars, the hair cream, shampoo, paste, and what not, the list is endless. This does not stop with just what we wear and own it also extends to the way we behave in our peer group.

Some time back, my friend and I were at the cafeteria near our college when were suddenly mobbed by a group of students who were dressed up as people straight out from prehistoric age. They were carrying contraptions that resembled like weapons for a battlefield, which made us wonder whether they were struck in a time warp. And what followed actually bemused us completely, the group started speaking to each other in a very laboriously slow manner in a language which sounded nothing of this world. My friend and I were not able to understand a single word of it, we left that day with a really confused mind and were in the same state for quite some time. But it all ended on the day we decided to watch the movie "Lord of the Rings" Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. K. Tolkiem's novel of early 1900s. We understood the costumes and the weapons were the film's souvenir collectibles, and the language they spoke was that of the elves originally created by the great author.

Thus we see people talking about 'molecular disintegrators', 'laser swords', 'elves', 'hobbits' etc., and also tend to act and perform like what they have seen in movies and television. We also see that big FMCG companies bringing in newer products inline with the latest movies. There are several institutions, which glorify such attitude. Those who dare to ignore are considered archaic and become the butt of all jokes. This can be easily acknowledged by the fact the elves language has already been recognized as part an official curriculum in a British university.

Thus the line between real and reel life is fast becoming a blurred one. The whole behavior and cultural activity of the human race is left to the mercy of the next big moviemaker.

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Topic 7 How do movies or TV affect people?

Movies are popular because people are great watchers. They like to watch other peoples' lives. They like to live vicariously. By going to movies, we can escape our own lives, share other people's emotions, and imagine ourselves as someone else.

Many of our lives are not as adventurous or glamorous as the lives in movies. We do not battle evil all day long and then go back to our luxurious penthouse apartment. We just go to school, do our homework, eat, talk to our friends, and sleep. We need a little excitement in our lives and we find excitement at the movies.

Humans are very emotional people. We all like to cry and laugh. Fortunately, there is not much to cry about in my life so I like to go to sad movies where my heartstrings can be tugged. I also like to go to comedies so that I can laugh. I tend to cry and laugh more in a dark movie theater than I do in broad daylight.

Now I am a student, but I know someday I will be a scientist or a politician or a famous model. When I go to the movies, I can see my role models. I see how they act, what they wear, how they talk. I can prepare myself for the day when I will be like them.

Even though my life is quiet, I can go to the movies and watch someone else's life. I can share their emotions and their everyday life. I wonder if they would like to share mine.

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