本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛(1) Some people spend their entire lives in one place. Others move a number of times throughout their lives, looking for a better job, house, community, or even climate. Which do you prefer: staying in one place or moving in search of another place? Use reasons and specific examples to support your opinion.

move: better education chance, better job, know more about others culture, gain more experience
stay: boring life style,


For me, I would definitely prefer to move several times in my whole life. As a matter of fact, I had moved several times in the recent years, from Shanghai, China, the place that I was born to Montreal, Quebec, and later to Toronto, Ontario.

The reason I moved to Montreal partly is that I appreciated the better education chance, besides I was quite satisfied with the relative low the tuition in Quebec. Not to mention, I enjoyed the French style life a lot. Later, as my husband found a better job in Toronto, we made a decision to move again. Because of moving, I have gained more experience and known more about other cultures in Canada.

On the other hand, staying in only one place could make life sort of boring.

In conclusion, I'd love to have something different in life. People move for various reasons such as better education chance, better job, and more comfortable climate. Most important of those is looking for some change in life.


(2) “What do you do after work?” is a term in a commercial, which emerges quite frequently on TV recently. In fact, in my opinion, I think both participating in sports for recreation and participating in arts are the most important two ways to make one relaxed.

When I work in the office, facing the computer, filing the documentation, sitting there almost all day, … it is very usual for me to feel fatigue even I have had enough sleep. At that moment, to take part in sports exercises for recreation would help a lot to lessen the stress and to diminish the fatigue resulting from work. Sports such as skating, swimming, bowling, cycling, don’t require a lot of energy to be put in, however, both mind and body have to work together to make the movements in concordance. Therefore, as a result of participating in sports, one becomes more energetic and refreshed.

In addition to the sports activities, there could be quite a little joy from participating in the arts. Movies, music, artwork exhibitions, drama and opera are the most popular art subjects that people love to refer to. For example, there are thousands of millions of people are allured to the Oscar, the Grammy and the other thrilling festivals. In Montreal, the annual Jazz Festival, which earns its name of the biggest Jazz festival in the world for over 20 years, attracts millions of jazz fans from every corner of the world. It’s much fun for me even though I am a layman of jazz.

In a whole, I would like to say I am enjoying both of these two methods of relaxing. What else approach can one think of to surpass the desire for the joy of life?


(3) There is an old saying in my country "money cannot do everything, while nothing can be done without money". I believe it describes accurately the real-life circumstance that everyone is in. As to considering the main living standard, either to make a fortune or to earn a comfortable living, I would prefer the latter.
People, devoting themselves into money making, may obtain great harvest in his account. Yet, in order to accomplish this determined goal, he may take advantage of any potential opportunities. Consequently, he tends to get much more stress, be easier to get fatigue and feel less enjoyment from his life due to his excluding focus on numbers. Even worse, he may lead to family disharmony, which results from his neglecting of his family members. In this sense, what will wealth do to make he cheer?
On the other hand, someone with the average income, which is just enough to meet his non-extravagant demands of life, may really enjoy the fun of his life. He may spend more time with his family, playing basketball, swimming, going to the movies... Although ordinary, life could be so relaxed and funny. Everyone of his family is happy and healthy both physically and mentally. Does it sound much greater?
On the whole, the living style and goal are so different among diverse people. But I would like the one with less tension and more comfort.


(4) A new restaurant to be built in my neighborhood? Neither my other neighbors nor I myself would support this plan for sure, because this new project could bring a lot of negative effects on our accustomed lives.

Above all, it could break up the serenity of the beautiful surrounding, resulted from the hubbub brought by the heterogeneous people who enjoy their meals in the restaurant. In addition to that, the rising number of strangers here may also lead to the deterioration of our neighborhood security. Even worse, there should be more insects such as roaches, ants or the other parasites emerge, which attributed to the abundant remains from the restaurant. Consequently, it may crack down the assessment of our properties.

All those disadvantages are to surpass the convenience it could be complimented. So how would I accord with this plan?


(5) Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? Why or why not? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

When looking back the whole human history, we can find that the earlier age that people lived; the more illiteracy existed in the whole society. Therefore, as the beginning of 21st century, there is no doubt that the ability of literacy is far more important than in the past.

In the past, the way people work mainly relies on crude tools and weather. When sun rises, they go out in the field; when sunsets they come back and rest. They feed their family and herds on their own. Whether they can read and write or not doesn’t really make a big difference on their simple life.

However, in the highly developed current society, almost every skill is based on the literacy. Without the ability to read and write, one cannot finish his education. Thus, he cannot learn any skills. Consequently, he will not grab any chance to pursue better life. All of these demerits, which attribute to illiteracy, will result in living indecently at the bottom of the society.

Overall, it is more difficult for an illiterate to earn his living now than in the past. So I would say it is definitely more important and fundamental to know how to read and write now than before.


(6) People do many different things to stay healthy. What do you do for good health? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.


Most people think that doing exercises regularly such as jogging, cycling, swimming can benefit health. In fact, they do. However, I have another secret method, which is more efficient and affordable, to keep me healthy. That is walking outside.

As a matter of fact, walking not only burns calories but also benefit to the whole body. Not to mention it is perhaps the easiest kind of exercises in life. There’re a lot of ways to walk in life: using the stairs instead of elevator, strolling in the park with pets, and even walking several blocks away for grocery is a good idea. All of these walking won’t cost me a penny. And what makes things even better is it can save me a lot of time. Usually if the destination is not too far, walking is more efficient and faster than taking a bus, and of course it is less expensive than calling a cab.

So why go to the gym or the fitting center to walk on the pacing machine. Whenever I have chance, I walk. Isn’t it beautiful to walk outside while breathing the fresh air and enjoying the breeze? From all the above mentioned, I would say walking is my favorite exercise because of its least cost and most convenience and efficiency.


(7) You have decided to give several hours of your time each month to improve the community where you live. What is one thing you will do to improve your community? Why? Use specific reasons and details to explain your choice.


To improve the whole community, I would pick a fixed day every month to collect garbage.

There’re several large lawns scattered in my community. When I chose to move here, I considered it as one of the biggest advantages of this community. However, there’re always some irresponsible ones dumping garbage such as beverage canes and fast-food leftover on the lawns. I once even met an owner of a golden retriever who left his dog’s scoop there. These garbage demerit the scenes, deteriorate the community environments, and devalue our properties as well.

By collecting the garbage in my own time, not only can I make our community cleaner but also I can have better influence on those who pay no attention to the environment. Consequently, more and more people will join me to maintain the community serenity; less and less people will litter regardless the “no dumping” sign and the public’s anger.
In the end, everyone can benefit from our community’s being better.

So, if I want to donate my service to my community, I will start from collecting garbage. Although simple, it is necessary.


(8) Your school has enough money to purchase either computers for the students or books for the library. Which should your school choose to buy – computers or books? Use specific reasons and details to explain your choice.


I believe our school board will tend to purchase a bunch of computers instead of books because that would benefit the students more directly.

Currently, more and more lectures have posted their assignments on the web. This is all based on the assumption that all the students have their access to the computers, either to their private computers or public ones, such as library. Therefore, those students whose assignments mainly rely on the public computers would welcome these new facilities for sure. Not to mention that, the waiting line outside the computer lab will definitely shorten, which eventually will save almost everyone’s precious time and energy.

In addition to that, computer can also offer more merits than the books. For example, nowadays not only students but also faculty staffs do their research by surfing the Internet to find more information and reference first. They find it more useful, more convenient and more efficient than just referring on few books. There’re also other functions that books cannot replace computers such as retrieving mails etc.

So from all above-mentioned aspects, I think to buy computers for the students will be a wiser choice.


(9) Many students choose to attend schools or universities outside their home countries. Why do some students study aboard? Use specific reasons and details to explain your answer.


There are three reasons are most often discussed, regarding a considerable number of students prefer to study aboard.

First, students go after a better-known academic background. Quite simply, a degree of a famous university such as: MIT, Harvard, Yale will not only just look good in resume, but also can bring a promising future and benefit the salary. Not to mention that, by studying in a famous school aboard, students can always learn the latest knowledge and more technique than the universities of their hometown. After completing their study, they can go back with more advanced knowledge and serve better to their countries.

On the other hand, usually students from developing countries desire to stay in those well-developed countries by studying aboard. Statistic shows that around 40% international students in the States settle down after their graduation. Through this way, they can earn a better living.

In addition, there’re also some other positive effects by studying aboard. When pursuing their degrees aboard, students can benefit from the diverse culture they contact, enjoy the differently beautiful sightseeing, broaden their eyes, and have much more experience than the average fellows at their hometown. All these will have variously profound effect on their lives.

On a whole, despite the negative aspects such as higher tuition, many students would rather study aboard.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net